Right Kind Of Wrong
by Yellowwolf
Summary: Set during year four, triwizard tournament. As if Harry doesn't have to worry about enough yet, he has to worry about keeping his relationship with Draco a secret. But what will happen when people start finding out? Chapter 18 up! Complete!
1. Forest part 1

**Disclaimer**: Don't own them … obviously.

**Author's note: **This is my first attempt at a Harry Potter fic. It's slash. I'm not exactly saying who the second person is, but you should be able to guess who it is. Title comes from the song 'Right kind of wrong' by Leann Ryhmes. It just fit somehow.

**Right kind of wrong**

Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak from the foot of the bed and quietly kicked away the blankets. He was dressed in a blue jeans and a green sweater that matched his eyes. He got up and paused for a moment, focusing his hearing. Quiet and not so quiet snores filled his hearing. It was pretty clear all boys were asleep. He took his wand from his nightstand and stuck it behind his belt. Next, he wrapped the cloak around his slender form and made his way to the stair case.

In the common room, the fire was burning invitingly, casting an orange glow through the entire room. He stood still, staring in the beautiful flames for several seconds. The flames danced in front of his eyes. They seemed to portray a rhythm and Harry could almost hear their song.

Tearing his eyes away from the fire, he headed to the portrait and walked out quietly. Even the people in the paintings were asleep. It was late or rather early but Harry didn't care about the hour.

He walked through the familiar hallways, enjoying the silence. Normally, the halls were filled with chatting, with laughter, with yelling. Now there was only silence and the soft sound of his feet on the stones. He always enjoyed walking in these hallways. It made him feel like he belonged.

Too soon he reached the heavy wooden doors. He looked around to make sure there was no one around and then made his way outside, shutting the door as softly as possibly.

The cold outside air hit him at once. The cloak didn't provide much protection but it didn't matter. Thinking about the one he was going to meet, made his soul warm and caused his heart to beat quicker in anticipation.

He looked up at the sky. As most light in and around the castle had been dimmed, the stars were clearly visible. There were so many. Some shone brightly, others could be seen barely but they were there. Just like his parents. Whenever he looked at the stars, he thought about his parents, knowing that somewhere they were looking out for him, were protecting him. It made him feel safe, it comforted him.

He continued his trip, breathing in the fresh air and smiling as the wind played with the edges of his coat. It flew around and against his feet.

Soon he reached the edge of the Forbidden forest. This wasn't his most favourite place to come but it had become their meeting place. It wasn't one of the safest places because many creatures used the forest as their hide-out but they had never been attacked by anything or anyone before so they still considered it safe.

He walked deeper in the forest, darkness engulfing him quickly as the trees blocked all light coming from Hogwarts, the moon and the stars. Denying that he was scared during the few minutes he walked in complete darkness, would be a lie. His heartbeat spiked whenever he heard a sound, even if it was just the wind and his breathing became ragged. But the fear of being attacked by Voldemort, like he had been in his first year, was worth it when he saw the one he loved. With him he was safe, with him he felt protected.

He stopped and looked back. The only thing he could vaguely make out were trees. He saw no light whatsoever. That meant he was deep enough in the forest.

He grabbed his wand. "Lumos!" The tip of his wand lighted up, giving him enough light to see what was around him. His breathing evened out again as the relief of being able to see swept through him.

He reached their usual meeting spot, which was a large open space, pretty quickly. The other wasn't there yet so he pulled his cloak off and seated himself against a large tree and got lost in thought, forgetting about the cold that seeped through his clothes.

He hadn't meant to fall in love but it had kind of grown in the four years that he had been at Hogwarts. He didn't really realize it at first. It just sort of hit him at once while watching him one day during breakfast. He had realized how beautiful he was, how his eyes had this sparkle whenever he smiled and how his smile made his heart skip a beat. It had been confusing at first.

It had come as a complete shock when he found out his secret love returned his feelings but he didn't mind. He was happy, very happy.

Neither Ron nor Hermione nor his friends knew about their relationship. Everyone would probably freak and with everything that was going on, they could miss that. Both needed their friends just as much as they needed each other which is why keeping it a secret was for the best.

It wasn't easy though because they couldn't let any of their love shine through during the day. They had to act like they always did and both were getting sick of that but they had no other choice. They weren't willing to end things but they weren't willing to tell everyone either. It was too dangerous for the both of them.

For now, they were happy with the way things were. They enjoyed each other's presence, enjoyed getting to know each other and loved making out and discovering each other's bodies. Harry had doubted whether their relationship was really love or the simple need to be with someone, to be able to hold someone and be held when things got rough. They had discussed it and came to the conclusion it was a little of both. When they were together, the rest of the world didn't matter, only they did.

His focus came back to the present as something caught his attention. He could feel the other's presence before he made himself seen. Harry waited but nothing happened. A small smile spread across his face. He was sure the other was there but like usual, he waited to make himself known. The other always did this, waiting, watching.

"I know you're there." Harry spoke up eventually, his voice sounding loud in the quiet forest.

The other reversed his invisibility spell and smirked at him.

"You keep amazing me." He said, smiling affectionately down at him. Harry grinned and patted the space next to him. His companion sat down next to him and immediately reached out to take his hand, entwining their fingers.

Harry smiled and leaned forward, lightly brushing his lips against the other boy's.

"I missed you." Harry murmured as he leaned his head on the other's shoulder.

"I missed you too." Came the answer from above him as a kiss was placed on his temple.

Harry sighed happily. This was how it was meant to be. They were meant to be. Harry removed his hand from the other's so his companion could place an arm around his shoulder. They sat like that in silence for a while, both thinking and just enjoying their closeness. Neither felt the cold as they had the other to keep each other warm. The only light came from Harry's wand.

Harry was once again pulled back from his thoughts as the other absently rubbed his arm up and down. Harry looked up in the smiling face of his love. Green eyes met grey ones.

The other boy cupped his cheek with his free hand and leaned forward to catch his mouth in a passionate, hot kiss that went on and on, arousing both. The kiss told everything that words could too and so much more. It spoke of lust, desire, trust, promises and most importantly, love. Their bond was the most important thing at the moment and it grew with each passing second that they were together.

**To be continued**


	2. Forest part 2

**Author's note:** Okay, I've decided to do a couple of more chapters of this story while I work on another Harry Potter story. One thing you should know about this story, is that it takes place during the **fourth** book but let's assume they're 16 instead of 14.

Thank you for all the reviews!

**Right kind of wrong**

They sat against the tree, talking about their school day. They already knew most things anyway as they'd had several courses together.

"You know, I'm really getting sick of having to pretend I hate you. Especially when Ron and Hermione start doing annoying as well. Makes me want to yell at them." Harry muttered darkly.

Draco smiled slightly and tightened his arm around Harry. "Yeah, I know. I'm not enjoying this either especially since half Slytherin is following my example. Makes me want to hex everyone but doing that wouldn't be such a good idea. Oh, and about Granger and Weasley, I'm gonna have to come to their defence here... Hey, don't look at me like I've grown a second head. Let me finish. I'm not being nice against them either so you can hardly blame them."

"Malfoy, you have officially gone crazy!" Harry exclaimed shocked but he was secretly pleased with that answer. His love was actually being a bit considerate and hadn't jumped at the chance to make more rude comments.

"I know. I seem to have a lot of these un-Malfoy like moments when I'm with you." The blond-haired boy replied.

Harry snorted at that. "Un-Malfoy like! What the bloody hell do you mean by that?"

"Well, I'm having a relationship with the boy I'm supposed to be hating _and_ on top of that, I'm defending your friends, who I, by the way, still can't stand. Oh, and I'm showing emotion which is just about a crime where I come from. I'm supposed to be a sneering, stuck up git, remember?"

"You've forgotten arrogant, cocky, annoying, spoiled and foolish." Harry helpfully supplied which earned him a jab in the side by Draco's elbow.

"But don't worry, you still are all of those things." Harry said, smirking at the boy who at that comment made a face at him.

"Very nice, Potter. And I was actually thinking you'd seen beyond that facade." Draco said, faking an hurt expression. The twinkle in his grey eyes betrayed everything though.

"You know damn well the whole Malfoy-thing is the reason I fell in love with you." Harry told smiling.

"Really? And I thought it were my good looks."

Harry laughed. "That too… Nah, you know I know you like no one else does and honestly, I've never been able to stand your attitude but I do now because I understand."

"I know that, Harry. You've said that like a million of times before."

"That offer still stands, you know? The one where you talk to me about your dad." Harry said quietly. So far he hadn't been able to get Draco to open up about his family. He knew part of Draco's problem lay there but the boy refused to talk about it. Whenever Draco mentioned his father, Harry could practically feel the fear and it was disturbing, to say the least.

He knew Lucius Malfoy served the Dark lord and he knew Draco was quite bothered by that because after all, it was Voldemort that was trying to kill him.

Beside him, Draco froze and a deep, tortured sigh escaped the blond his lips.

"There is one thing you should know." Draco started, "Since my father's a Death eater, I'm expected to become one too and honestly, I don't know when I'm going to receive the dark mark but I know I will have to."

Harry sighed but he wasn't surprised. He had guessed something like this would happen.

"And you can't get out off it?"

Draco laughed bitterly, "If I refuse, they'll kill me. It's as simple as that. Don't doubt for a second my father wouldn't do it because he would if the Dark Lord tells him too. I wouldn't be the first to get killed because I refuse. Many have tried, none have survived the torture. Heck, if they ever find out I'm this close to you, they'll torture me to death. Trust me, the death spell would be too easy for a traitor. But you have to know one thing: I'd rather die than let them get their hands on you."

"Don't say that!" Harry reacted vehemently, "If they ever take me, don't do something foolish like risking your life."

"Harry, you are my life." Draco confessed so quietly that Harry had to strain his hearing to hear the words.

When the words registered, Harry's mouth dropped open in shock. He had not heard such a heartfelt confession from his love before and this came as a huge surprise, especially since he had never been sure of how deep Draco's feelings for him went. He'd known Draco had some feelings for him but not that they were this strong.

"If you die, I die."

"Shit, Draco…" Harry trailed off speechless. He had no idea what to say or do at the time as his brain had gone into lockdown after this piece of information that he was still finding so hard to believe.

"Don't think I don't mean it because I do. If the Dark Lord ever gets his hands on you, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you're safe, even if means my own death. I know I have to become a Death eater but I am determined to try and stop them."

"Turn over to the good side then. I'm sure Dumbledore can get you protection." Harry said excited. This could actually work. Dumbledore wouldn't hesitate to help him, would he? He couldn't lose Draco and he was sure Draco had some information that the good side could use to their advantage. This was a brilliant idea! Hope rose inside of him.

"Can't do that. It wouldn't be long before they figure out what happened and I'm not risking all of your lives when they try to get me back because they will. Who betrays them, has to be punished and they won't rest until they have punished me." Draco replied, crushing Harry's hopes at once.

"You may be right. Look, let's not worry about this now, okay? You're too young to join the Death eaters anyway and no one can find out about us. What happens in the forest stays in the forest." Harry said as he looked at Draco in the dim light of his wand.

Draco nodded. Harry could see the sadness in those grey eyes and he was pretty sure they reflected his own sadness and despair. Reality had once again set in. They had once again realized why they couldn't be. And yet again, they chose to ignore it for the time being.

In the darkness of the night, they were safe.

"We should head back to the castle." Draco said after a silence off several minutes.

Harry sighed. "I don't want to."

"Me neither but it is dangerous out here. You still don't know who put your name in the Goblet of fire. We really need to think of another meeting place because we can't keep meeting here, not with everything that's going on."

"I know but in the castle isn't an option. Too many ghosts and portraits around that can betray our presence."

"Yeah, but you've got your Marauders map, don't you? Doesn't it show presence of ghosts as well? We could meet in a classroom or something. If we go invisible, we can't be caught."

"You know, you're onto something with the map. It does show hidden locations and stuff. How about I just study it to see where we can hide within the castle and I'll let you know."

"Okay. I would feel much better knowing you don't have walk through this dark forest anymore."

"You worry too much." Harry said smiling but it was nice to know someone worried. He was sure that if his friends knew, they'd worry as well but they would try to talk him out of it. Draco didn't. He had tried once but had given up when Harry said he didn't mind and that it was only a short distance. A short distance that did nothing to ease his mind and made him jump with every sound. He would be really glad if he didn't have to come here anymore. $

"Come on. Let's go back." Draco carefully stood up and offered his hand to Harry who took it. Draco pulled him up a little too forceful, causing Harry to stumble and fall into Draco's arms.

Draco wrapped his arms around Harry's waist to steady him and smiled down at a now blushing Harry.

"Hey, there." Draco whispered seductively. Harry pulled away a bit and wrapped his arms around Draco's neck.

"You know, maybe we should stay here a little longer. Five more minutes won't exactly matter.?" Harry said smiling.

"I couldn't agree more."

That was enough talking for Harry. He leaned forward and pressed his lips on the other boy's. The kiss started as all their kisses did; gentle and caring but like usual, that didn't last very long. Draco's tongue swept across his lower lip, clearly asking permission which was soon granted as he opened his mouth under Draco's probing tongue.

Their tongues battled for control but it was a battle neither could win. Harry moaned softly in the kiss as Draco started a thorough exploration of his mouth. When Draco sucked his tongue in his mouth, he returned the favour.

When they needed air, they broke apart, both panting heavily.

"Now… we should… really head back." Draco said. Harry nodded his agreement and pulled away. They needed to get back to the castle at some point before dawn and if they kept this up, they'd never get back.

Harry picked up his wand and his cloak and followed Draco. He slipped his hand in the Slytherin's hand. Like that, they walked back.

At the edge of the forest, they paused briefly. They looked at the castle with its dimmed lights and up at the stars and the moon that shone brightly.

Harry sighed and pulled his hand out of Draco's with regret. He leaned in for a quick kiss on the lips and then wrapped his cloak around him while Draco used his invisibility spell.

"See you later, Potter." Came the voice from somewhere in front of him.


	3. Hate and love

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own them.

**A/N:** Okay, I'm definitely going to continue this story because I have some great ideas for this. So since this'll be around for a while longer, you might as well review and keep me motivated!

Thanks to BadKatPat for reviewing both of my chapters!

**Right kind of wrong  
****Hate and love**

The next morning, Harry was sitting at breakfast with Ron and Hermione, the conversation with Draco replaying in his head. He remembered every bit of it. He was thinking hard about a way to get Draco to safety but his brain failed him. There had to be a way. What if they faked Draco's death? No, that wasn't much of an option. Then they'd have to give Draco a completely new look so he could still be able to attend Hogwarts. He was pretty sure his boyfriend wasn't going to agree with that suggestion anyway.

He yawned as he let the conversation around him wash over him. Not a word registered. He was so tired. After returning to the Gryffindor tower, he hadn't been able to get much sleep. He'd seated himself in the common room with the Marauders map and had luckily found another hidden place. At least, he had achieved one thing that night. The place was some kind of room behind a solid wall on the second floor. Getting there unnoticed wouldn't be much of a challenge. Finding the room on the other hand would be a little more difficult. He was going to have to study the wall to find a way to get in.

He also had to let Draco know about his discovery which would also be difficult. He'd have to be able to get Draco on his own which was near impossible as well since Draco was always surrounded by his Slytherin friends and Ron and Hermoine weren't giving him much breathing room either with everything that was going on.

"-Arry!" Hermione's voice broke through his thoughts.

"What?" he asked, turning his full attention on his best friend.

"Have you figured out the egg yet?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No, I have not. I still have enough time as well. The second task is not until after New Year and it's not even half December yet."

"Harry, you shouldn't wait with those things! I'm sure Victor has it figured out already."

"Victor! She already calls him Victor." Ron muttered darkly from his other side.

Harry held back a laugh. Ron was obviously jealous.

"Well, that is his name, isn't it?" Hermione bit back, having heard Ron's comment.

"Guys." Harry interrupted before this turned in another fight. His friends were too pigheaded to admit they had feelings for each other and he wasn't planning on interfering. Hermione would kill him if he did. She had actually told him so a few days earlier when he'd told her she was really hurting Ron by going out with Victor. She'd replied that Ron should've had to guts to ask her out then and Harry had to admit she was right so he stayed out of it. They'd figure it out some day.

"Right. The egg."

Harry sighed deeply. "Look guys, I'm going up to the common room for a bit. I've still got to finish something. Let's meet back here in thirty minutes."

He left quickly before they could protest. He was pleased to see they for once hadn't come after him. When he looked back, he saw they were once again arguing. Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes. This was going to be a very long year.

Harry hurried up to the common room to grab his bag. He stuffed his invisibility cloak in it. Next he ran back downstairs and saw Draco casually standing by the stairs, just as he'd hoped. He looked around and when he saw no one, tossed the cloak around him. They should not be seen together.

He walked up to Draco and touched his arm. Draco jumped a feet in the air and looked around shocked. Then his face relaxed as he realized what was going on and he smiled.

"Where to?" he whispered.

"Second floor. The hallway without the portraits." Harry said quietly as people passed them. Draco nodded slightly to let him know he'd heard.

Harry was about to go up the stairs when he heard the bickering voices of his two best friends come closer. Draco hadn't moved yet either and was actually smirking as he caught part of their conversation.

"I am not jealous, Hermione! As if! And stop bugging Harry about that egg! He'll figure it out." Ron said, only from a few feet away. Harry grinned pleased. He and Ron did think the same on some stuff, like the making of homework and well, just about everything else with a deadline.

"What's the matter? Trouble in paradise?" Draco sneered as they passed them. Harry smacked his arm hard enough to make it hurt but Draco pretended as if he hadn't noticed a thing.

"Oh, fuck you, Malfoy!" Ron replied angrily.

"In your dreams, Weasely." Draco shot back, smirking as Ron turned bright red. Draco's smirking didn't help Ron's temper any. Harry could clearly tell he was on the verge of punching Malfoy and quite frankly, he wouldn't object much if Ron did punch him. Why the hell was Draco butting in anyway?

Some of his old hatred flared up uncontrollably and if he wasn't worried about what Hermione and Ron would think if he suddenly threw his cloak off, he would've decked Draco himself.

"Malfoy, this really isn't none of your business!" Hermione chimed in, "Leave us and Harry alone!"

Hermione stormed up the stairs before Draco could reply with Ron close on her tail. Draco set off to the second floor so Harry followed him, making sure not to bump into anyone. He fully intended to have a word with Draco about his continuous annoying of Ron and Hermione.

He knew he'd said the night before that he hated that Ron and Hermione were being so annoying but now he was totally changing his view. They were his two best friends. No one treated his friends like that!

They reached the second floor fairly quickly. Harry threw off his cloak and turned to glare at Draco who raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Draco, what the hell gave you the right to interfere with Ron and Hermione's conversation?" Harry asked quietly but threateningly.

Draco shrugged, leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "Can't let a chance pass to humiliate them, can I?"

Harry was sure there was steam coming out of his ears by now.

"They happen to be my friends and I will not tolerate that you talk to them like that!"

"Right, and what are you going to do about it?"

Harry felt his temper rising with every word that Draco said. This was something he experienced quite often. He'd have his moments where his hate for Draco flared up. At night in the forest, they were no one. In school, they were Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, sworn enemies and it showed. Their encounters alone in school never ended well which is why they had chosen for a spot outside of school, away from the pressure.

"I hate you, Malfoy!" Harry spat. Draco didn't even wince and only smirked. Harry's glare turned into one of complete hate. He knew the words he spoke were true. He knew he did hate Draco, more than anything.

But he also knew he loved him more than anything and those conflicting emotions were driving him insane. He couldn't stand to be around Draco but he couldn't stand to stay away from him either.

"Sure you do, Potter. Remind me to get that Mudblood back for walking away like that. I do not like people who do that to me."

Harry's mouth dropped open in absolute shock and horror. He closed his mouth quickly and stalked over to Draco. For a moment he saw fear flicker in Draco's eyes before his stony expression was back.

"For a second, I thought I heard your father speaking." Harry snarled, knowing it was the only thing that he could say to get to Draco. They knew each other through and through so they could hurt each other worse than anyone else could.

He was right. Draco's expression turned to one of fury and Harry saw him clench his fists but he knew he would not hit him. They'd had many arguments before but they did not get physical. If Draco dared to hit him once, he'd break it off at once and the blond boy knew it. Harry saw how hard Draco was restraining himself from hitting him and he was so pleased at that. He knew Draco loved him and having this power over him was great.

He knew he could easily bait Draco into hitting him, he'd tried many times when he'd been so angry with Draco that he didn't particularly care whether Draco hit him or not. The Slytherin boy had come really close once but he'd walked away at the right time.

"Well, at least I still have my father." Draco replied coolly. Anger surged through Harry's veins. He turned away from Draco, breathing shallowly. He would not hit Draco, he would not Draco, he would not hit Draco. He wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of that because Draco loved baiting him as much as he loved to bait Draco.

After several deep breaths, he still felt the need to hit someone or something so with a cry of pain, he smashed his fist against the wall, hard. The grief of losing his parents returned with a vengeance and tears welt up in his eyes. Whenever he thought he had dealt with it, something happened to make him realize otherwise.

His fist remained against the wall as he rested his forehead against its smooth and cold surface. He barely felt the throbbing in his hand. He closed his eyes tightly against the tears.

"Harry, I'm sorry." Draco said from next to him, sounding sincere. He didn't object when Draco pulled him into a tight embrace. He let several tears slip but didn't let it all out. Now was not the time, nor the place. Anyone could find them like this which would be bad. With that thought he pulled away quickly.

He looked down at his feet and cradled his injured hand with his other hand. Now that he no longer felt the enormous pain of loss, the pain in his had started to register. Draco's hand appeared in his field of vision and he took his hand gently in his hand. He tapped it with his wand and the pain, much to Harry's dismay, disappeared at once.

"I'm really sorry." Draco repeated. Harry looked up at him and saw he absolutely looked guilty. He nodded curtly, not in the mood to let him fully off the hook yet.

"This thing between us isn't healthy." Draco said.

"No, it isn't." Harry agreed, "I'm supposed to meet Ron and Hermione."

With that he walked off and Draco did not follow him. His anger sank with every step he took further away from Draco.

Ron and Hermione were already waiting for him near the Great Hall.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked worried.

"I'm fine." Harry said, plastering on a fake smile. Draco walked past them to go join his Slytherin friends. He didn't so much as look at them and Harry couldn't care less.

For the rest of the day, nothing happened. Draco was his usual arrogant self but made no snippy comments to him or his two best friends. Their eyes met several times during the day but Harry always looked away at once. Their love/hate relationship was starting to take his toll on both of them and he didn't know how long he could keep this up.

**To be continued**

_-points at the review button- You know you want to… Don't make me send Draco after you._


	4. Decisions

**Disclaimer:** What do you think?

**A/N:** This is obviously the fourth chapter. My exams start tomorrow so I don't know when I'll be able to update again. I hope soon because I have to admit I hate the ending of this chapter. Anyway, enjoy!

**Reviews:**

Sporty-mia09: Thanks! And I do like your second chapter.

Unforgivable curse caster: Thanks! Keep reviewing! And I love your stories!

Marina Sweden: -gives tissues- I suggest you hold on to them. And thanks!

MiME-Chan: Lol, I'll make sure to send Draco to you when he has the time

I love athrun: Thank you! And here's the next chapter

**Right kind of wrong  
Decisions**

Harry paced in front of the wall, thinking of a way to get into the hidden room. So far it wasn't working. He'd tried several spells he thought might work but they didn't. Whoever had made the room, had protected it so good that it was impossible for anyone to get in. It was annoying to say the least. This was the perfect hiding place.

Harry sighed and leaned against the wall, rubbing his eyes. He again hadn't slept much that night. Draco had been on his mind all the time. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now. Their fight was still haunting him for a reason he didn't understand. They fought a lot and every time, it was forgotten quickly. Now, he just could not forget it.

'_At least I still have my father_' That was the sentence that kept replaying in his head. He wasn't exactly mad at Draco for making a comment like that because he knew he'd been asking for that. It was just the way Draco had said it. There had been something weird about his tone. At the time, he hadn't realized it because he'd been too pissed but the more he thought about it, the more he came to the conclusion that there was something wrong.

Draco had sounded angry when he'd said it which was understandable. He'd also heard fear. That part he understood as well because he knew Draco was afraid of his father. His boyfriend hadn't admitted it in that many words but Harry had gotten quite good at reading Draco's expressions. The part that worried him was the pride he'd heard when Draco had said the word father.

He didn't know why that bothered him but it did and it once again made him realize that Draco did look up to his father and that the love of his life would soon become a Death eater and would be hunting him down.

He clearly remembered Draco's promise in the forest that he wouldn't let anything happen to him but could he keep that promise? Draco was scared of his father, of what he would do to him if he didn't obey his orders. And Harry understood that but he was endangering himself by being with Draco. The other boy knew him through and through. He knew where he stayed during the holidays. Would Draco be able to keep that a secret in the face of torture?

It was last night he had realized how screwed he was and how foolish he'd been by believing in a relationship that was doomed from the start. They could not be together, they just couldn't.

He was the Boy-who-lived, Draco was a soon-to-be Death eater. How the hell could they ever think they could make it work? Love wasn't enough, not for this relationship.

He loved Draco to death, he did but at the moment, he couldn't see how their relationship could survive. It was time he started thinking about himself. He'd put himself in such great danger by opening up to Draco. Even if Draco didn't talk, a truth potion was enough to make him spill his guts and that would be the end of everyone Harry cared for.

He realized it was already too late. Draco knew everything but if he broke up now, no one would ever find out about them. He had not only put himself in great danger, but also the ones close to him and he hadn't thought about that in the beginning.

"I thought I might find you here." Came the all too familiar voice of his soon to be ex-boyfriend.

Harry smiled weakly as Draco approached. The boy looked so insecure. Harry had never seen him like that before.

"We need to talk." Harry said.

"Look, if it's about yesterday, I-"

"It isn't about yesterday." Harry interrupted before Draco could apologize again, "Okay, that's not true. It is about yesterday but not directly. I mean it's got nothing to do with what you said. Well, it actually does but not in the way you think i-."

"Harry, you're babbling and it's freaking me out." Draco cut in.

"Right, right. Sorry." Harry ran a hand through his messy hair and stared at his feet. He should've had time to prepare for what he was going to say. He sucked at serious conversations and he could already feel he was going to stammer and just be really confusing.

"Harry, what is it?" Draco asked, now sounding worried but Harry did not raise his head to meet Draco's oh-so gorgeous grey eyes.

"You're breaking up, aren't you?" Came Draco's voice several seconds later. Harry's head shot up at this and he could see the hurt in the gray eyes he had loved from the beginning. He wanted nothing more than to say 'no' but now he had to think about his own and his friends their safety.

"Hear me out first, okay?" Harry pleaded. Draco sighed deeply but nodded his agreement.

"First, it's really not about what you said. I deserved that comment but I do think it's better if we end things. For a change, I need to think about my own safety and that of my friends. You know too much about me and if we stay in a relationship, the change of getting caught increases and I can not be responsible for the deaths of the people I love."

"So, let me get this straight, after all this time, you still don't trust me? What? Do you think as soon as I have the chance that I'll go running to my father to tell him everything?" Draco asked bitterly.

"No! No, that's not it. I trust _you_. It's the Death eaters and Voldemort that I don't trust. If they find out about us, I'm doomed."

"You don't trust me! I told you I would rather die than tell them about you!"

Harry sighed. "I know that, Draco! Ever heard of a truth potion?"

"Oh… Right." Draco said, his voice as well as his eyes emotionless. There was no anger, no acceptance, nothing. And frankly, that freaked Harry out more than the anger.

"Right." Draco repeated, "Well, it's your choice."

"Come on, Draco. Don't act like that!" Harry pleaded. He secretly wanted Draco not to accept it, to say that he loved him and that they would always be together. Of course this didn't happen in real life.

"I get your point. What more do you want?"

"I want to know how you feel!"

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Draco told, eyes flashing with anger briefly. Before Harry could answer, Draco walked off.

Harry decided against going after him. He didn't think it was such a good idea. He waited several minutes to make sure Draco was gone and then headed up to the Gryffindor common room to grab his stuff. Lessons were bound to start soon and he had Snape the first two hours. Coming late wasn't an option.

"Harry, where've you been?" Ron asked as soon as he appeared through the portrait hole. Harry mumbled an incoherent reply that not even he understood and hurried up to his dorm to grab his books.

Once back in the common room, the golden trio headed out to the dungeons were the Slytherins and a few Gryffindors were waiting.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Potter and his two little sidekicks, the Weasel and the Mudblood." Malfoy sneered at them.

"Oh, sod off, Malfoy!" Harry spat angrily. He should've guessed Draco would be acting like this and it wasn't fair. It wasn't as if he enjoyed this decision. It was for the best and he should've guessed Draco wouldn't understand

"Or what?"

"Or I'm going to hex you and don't think I won't."

"Harry!" Hermione hissed warningly from beside him.

Draco laughed and faked fear. "Oh no, Potter's getting angry. Let's run for the hills."

"Shut it, Malfoy or I'm going to hit you again. Remember last year?" Hermione said, taking a step forward. Meanwhile, all Gryffindors had arrived and burst out in laughter.

Malfoy turned bright red as his fellow Slytherins started asking him if it was true and he could only nod.

Harry smiled pleased. Hermione had humiliated Draco in front of his friends. That should keep him quiet for a while.

"Nice one, Hermione." Harry said.

Hermione grinned at him. "I just want to hear him try to comment again. Punching Malfoy was great, I'd do it again."

At that moment, Snape arrived, cutting off any further arguments between Malfoy and himself which he was quite glad for. This was not going the way it was supposed to be going. Not even an hour ago, he'd been pacing in front on the hidden room, figuring out a way to get in. Now he'd made the biggest mistake of his life by breaking up with the one person he loved more than life itself.

**To be continued**

**A/N:** Feel free to throw all sorts of heavy things to my head. –Points at review button-


	5. Explosion

**Disclaimer:** -points at first chapter-

**A/N: **Ooh, I'm updating fast. Three cheers for me –cough- Right. So anyway, just one thing I wanted to say. I'm planning to do another version of this but with Draco's feelings and thoughts. It will be similar to this with same dialogues and stuff, just different thoughts and all that stuff. I'm going to do one more chapter of this story (at the end you'll see why) and then I'm going to start the Draco thing until I've caught up. Then I'll do a Harry chapter, Draco chapter… and so on.

Thank you to my lovely reviewers: _miMe-chan, AngelikRebel, LireCasander _and_ Danii Flame_ (I will send Harry and Draco asap but now they're quite busy ;) ) You guys seriously made my day by reviewing!

**Right kind of wrong  
Explosion **

The Yule ball was approaching fast. Harry and Ron had been lucky to find dates because both had waited a bit too long. They'd asked the Patil twins out. Harry would be going with Parvati who had convinced her sister, who was in Ravenclaw, to go with Ron.

Both boys weren't really pleased with their dates though. Harry would rather have gone with a certain Slytherin which was out of the question for several reasons. First, going with Draco would raise too many questions and second, they were still on terms of war with each other.

Harry knew Ron would've preferred to go with Hermione. His best mate hadn't admitted it but he could clearly see it. Ron was jealous, very jealous.

Not that he wasn't jealous because he was. He'd heard through the grapevine that Draco was going with Pansy Parkinson and he was not pleased with that. The girl was madly in love with the blond boy and Harry knew Draco wouldn't let any opportunity to take revenge on him slide. Draco was not above using people to his advantage and this was one of these situations where this would definitely be the case.

It wouldn't be the first time that Draco would lay his arm around her shoulder and then look back to see his reaction with a smug look. He knew Draco was trying to make him jealous. The problem was that he was succeeding. Draco could see it on his face. The harder he tried to look as if he didn't care, the harder it was obvious that he was about to yell at the girl for touching his love.

His mood had been bad whole week and he knew he was taking it out on Ron and Hermione but he couldn't help it. He was pissed at Draco for the way he was acting. He was being ruder and more annoying than before which was hardly good.

He'd managed to get Draco on his own once to demand why on earth he was acting like that.

"_Because no one dumps me without good reason." Draco replied, crossing his arms and smirking._

"_Without good reason? You're a Death eater for crying out loud. I'd say that's a pretty good reason!" Harry shot back, getting sick of Draco's attitude. The hate he felt during his first three years returned with full force but yet he could not stop loving Draco. _

"_There is one little thing you missed, Potter. Explain exactly what would keep me from going to my father and telling him everything now? It's not as if I still care."_

"_Are you threatening me?" Harry asked incredulously. Draco wouldn't do that, would he? No, of course not. He knew Draco still cared, no matter how hard he denied it. Draco had made him a promise not to tell and if he had learned one thing, then it was that Draco kept his promises. _

_Draco didn't answer for a few seconds and Harry could see he was struggling to find something to say. He realized Draco had said that before he thought about it and knew he was in no danger. _

"I'm just saying you should watch your back, Potter. You never know." Draco walked off quickly and Harry couldn't help but smile. That had actually sounded as if the other boy was worried.

'Not like that conversation helped all that much,' Harry thought bitterly. He knew Draco still cared but his attitude hadn't changed and he had the feeling it wouldn't change in the near future either.

He really didn't understand what he had done wrong. Draco would've done the same thing if he'd been in this situation.

Harry sighed deeply and returned his focus on the Potions lesson. Snape was whining on about some potion he obviously didn't know the name off since he hadn't been paying attention.

"Potter, what is the key ingredient to our potion?" Snape asked suddenly. Harry sighed inwardly. This was not good.

"Dragon blood." Harry replied almost automatically. It was the only thing that came to mind. Well, there were other things on his mind but that had nothing do with potions and everything to do with a certain Slytherin who was now smirking at him.

Snape walked over to where he, Ron and Hermione sat. Beside him, Ron sank lower in his chair and Hermione looked down at her desk. Obviously Dragon blood had not been the answer.

"Potter, have you been paying any attention at all? I have just explained to the class that by adding Dragon blood, no matter how small the amount is, your potion and everything in a ten feet radius will explode."

"Oh. Sorry, sir." Harry muttered.

"I'd say ten points from Gryffindor and detention tonight. Be here at 8 O'clock."

"Yes, sir."

Luckily the less was over soon. It was noon so they could go eat. Harry quickly packed his things and without looking at Hermione or Ron headed out. Unfortunately, Malfoy had made it out before him.

"I knew you were planning on killing us all, Potter. Saves the dark Lord a lot of trouble." Draco said smirking.

Harry was not in the mood for that now so he ignored the comment although he could feel his anger growing at the mention of the Dark Lord. That was low, even for Malfoy.

"What's the matter, Potter? Cat got your tongue?" Malfoy yelled.

'Okay, that's it,' Harry thought. He sighed deeply and let his head fall back to look at the ceiling. If anyone could've seen his expression, they'd have warned Malfoy to run as fast and as far as possible. Red spots were dancing in front of his eyes as he was getting fed up with this whole fucked up situation.

He dropped his bag on the ground and turned around. Malfoy and his friends were still smirking. Ron and Hermione had just come into the hallway, not aware of the danger yet or they would've stopped him.

His feet carried him back to Draco and without thinking twice, he smashed his fist into the other boy's face.

Draco howled in pain and brought his hands in front of his face. Blood was gushing between his fingers. The expression in the gray eyes wasn't one of anger as Harry would've expected but one of pure shock.

"What in the world is going on here?" Snape bellowed as he walked out of the classroom.

Harry blinked and looked around, finally coming back to his senses. Ron and Hermione were shaking their heads. Some Gryffindors were clapping but stopped quickly as Snape showed his face. The Slytherins on the other hand were glaring at him but did not dare to do anything until Malfoy ordered them too.

"Nothing, professor Snape. Goyle here smashed his elbow in my face by accident." Draco replied from behind his hands. This drove all the students to an immediate silence. Malfoy covering for Potter? What on earth was going on?

The Slytherins who wore expressions of confusion didn't object and neither did the Gryffindors who were still in absolute shock.

"Really?" Snape asked coldly, his eyes darting between Malfoy and Harry.

"Yes, sir." Draco answered quickly. He pulled his hands away from his face. Harry's eyes widened in shock as he saw the amount of blood that was flowing from his noose. Yet he felt oddly satisfied.

"Then why do I get the feeling Potter is responsible for this?" Snape asked, eyes fixed on him. Several Gryffindors hurried away.

"He isn't, sir. He just passed as it happened." Draco answered, wiping away his blood with Goyle's scarf.

Snape raised an eyebrow, obviously not believing it but without prove or someone who claimed otherwise, he couldn't punish Harry.

"Come on, Harry. You've got, um… that homework thing to finish." Hermione said, grabbing his arm and dragging Harry away before Snape could change his mind and give him an extra detention anyway.

"What the hell is going on between you and Malfoy?" Hermione asked as Harry numbly walked between his two best friends.

"He's a spoiled, annoying git."

"We all know that, Harry. What made you hit him? I've never seen you that angry before. For a second I was sure you were going to hit him again."

"Just drop it, Hermione."

"And why did he stand up for you? I would've thought he'd love to take advantage of the situation to get you into even more trouble." Ron added.

"Oh, shut up! The both of you!" Harry spat and instead of going with them to the Great hall, he headed outside to get fresh air. He knew he was crossing the line big time by snapping at Hermione and Ron. They hadn't done anything wrong but he was just so sick of it. He was sick of being in love with Draco and he was sick of hating him. He'd prefer not to feel anything at the moment. It was too confusing, there was too much going on in his head and in his heart and it was driving him crazy. Not to mention that it didn't do his temper any good.

**To be continued**

**A/N: **Next chapter: the Yule ball. Come on, guys, review! You know you want to…


	6. Yule Ball

**Disclaimer:** Don't own them.

**Reviews:**

_LireCasander:_ Lol, she's not going to figure it out just yet.

_MiMe-Chan: _Thank you!

_Sandy: _My summaries do suck, don't they? –sigh- Ah well. Thank you for reviewing!

_Emeraud-silver:_ Thank you!

_AngelikRebel:_ Thank you!

_Danii Flame: _Lol, don't worry. They'll get together again. Love conquers all…

_SkyeEyesSparkle7135:_ Lol, you're a fine cheerleader ;) I'm honored that you added my story to your C2!!

_IluvYU: _Well, hating and loving one person at the same time isn't difficult. Don't really know how to explain this but they say there's a fine line between love and hate. As for the second question, read on to find out!

_Marina.Sweden: _Yeah, poor Harry but don't worry, things will be better soon!

**Right kind of wrong  
Yule Ball**

It was the night of the Yule ball. The whole school was looking forward to it, except for one person. Harry still didn't feel like doing anything other then snapping at everyone and brooding in front of the fire.

"Yo, Harry, mate. You ready to go?" Ron asked as he gave his dress robes one last disgusted look.

"Yeah." Harry said sighing. It was a wonder that Ron and Hermione were still talking to him after all his snapping. He didn't deserve friends like that. They had figured out his mood had something to do with Malfoy but luckily, they had no idea what although he had the suspicion Hermione was close to figuring it out. He'd seen it in her eyes when she'd looked back and forth between them one day over breakfast. She hadn't asked anything about it though.

Him punching Malfoy had had quite an effect on people. To all the Gryffindors, he was suddenly a hero. Now he was the Boy-who-lived and the Boy-who-punched-Malfoy. All the Slytherins, including Malfoy, had not made one bad comment to any Gryffindor which had been the most surprising of all. It was clear Malfoy had told everyone to back off.

He figured that was what had been Hermione's first clue. That and the fact that Harry had told everyone to be friendly to the Slytherins as long as they were friendly as well. He didn't know what had possessed him to say that but he quite liked the peace that had settled between the Gryffindors and Slytherins. It had greatly improved the atmosphere around Hogwarts.

Even the teachers had been shocked by the lack of hostility between the two Houses. It made the combined lessons a whole lot more fun since Harry and Malfoy no longer jumped at each other's throats when they had the chance.

"Harry!" Ron said loudly from in front of him.

"Right, right. Let's go. We don't want to keep our dates waiting, do we?"

Ron groaned. "Don't remind me."

"Come on, Ron. It won't be that bad." Harry said overly cheerful in an attempt to cheer his mate up. It of course didn't work since Ron knew well enough he wasn't in the mood for this either.

Ron mumbled something under his breath. They left their Dorm and headed down the stairs to the Common room which was no empty as everyone had gone down already. They went in search of their dates and found them outside the great hall, looking impatient.

"Finally!" Parvati exclaimed.

"Sorry, we um… had some trouble dressing." Ron said.

"Potter!" McGonagall exclaimed as she joined them. She told him the champions had to do the opening dance which he had not known before. It didn't help any to improve his already terrible mood. He sucked at dancing and embarrassing himself in front of the whole school and most importantly Malfoy, was not something he looked forward to.

"Good luck, mate." Ron said smirking obviously happy that someone's night was going to be worse than his. Harry scowled and watched his friend go inside to take place in the safety of the crowd.

"She's beautiful!" Parvati suddenly exclaimed. Harry followed her gaze and saw Hermione coming down the stairs. His mouth dropped open. She was wearing a gorgeous pink dress. And her hair was pinned up. She did look beautiful.

Viktor was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, extending his hand to her as he approached. Hermione smiled and took his hand. The couple walked past them. His friend briefly smiled at him and he returned the smile. He'd have to remember to tell her how good she looked.

Soon the champions had to enter. Harry and Parvati walked in as last couple. He found Ron's face in the crowd and saw him staring shocked at Hermione. His eyes followed her. Ron wasn't the only one looking at her like that. Several other boys had noticed her beauty.

Then he caught sight of Malfoy and his heart skipped a beat. He looked gorgeous in his black dress robes. His hair was –like usual– absolutely perfect. Pansy was talking to him and was pointing at Hermione. He could pretty much guess what she was saying as she wore an expression of disgust. Malfoy however wasn't listening. Those gray eyes were focused on him and ran over the full length of his body before coming to rest on his face. Malfoy gave him a small smile. Harry ignored it, not wanting anyone to see who he was smiling at.

The four couples took place on the middle of the dance floor. Harry placed his one hand on Parvati's waist while she laid one hand on his shoulder. Her other hand slid into his.

The music started soon. The four couples started dancing as they had learned. At that time, Harry didn't care about who was watching. He was too busy remembering the steps and trying not to step on his date's feet. He seemed to be doing well though as he received a smile from Parvati.

He was quite relieved when other couples, among them Malfoy and Parkinson, came onto the dance floor as well. Harry caught glimpses of Malfoy dancing and he had to admit he was really good. Apart from Neville, he'd never seen a guy dance that good.

He was immensely pleased when the song ended. His obligation to dance ended there. Many couple stayed on the dance floor but Harry refused to dance more. Parvati shrugged and with in search of another guy which she had soon found.

Harry smiled, relieved that she found someone else. He hadn't wanted to be the cause of her having a bad evening. He went in search of Ron who he found sitting by one of the tables. One his way there, he passed Hermione who seemed to be enjoying herself with Viktor.

He sat down next to Ron. "Where's Padma?"

"She went to get some drinks. I have the strong suspicion she's not coming back though. I told her I didn't want to dance." Ron answered, not sounding the least bit upset that his date had ditched him. Instead his eyes were following Hermione around.

"Hermione looks beautiful, doesn't she?" Harry asked, watching Ron's reaction out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, she does." Ron replied dreamily. Then he realized what he said and he turned red.

Harry snickered. "You should've asked her out."

Ron muttered something under his breath and glared at Viktor.

"Look at them! It's just disgusting the way he looks at her!" Ron exclaimed. Harry bit back a smile.

"He's in love."

"The hell he is! He's just using her!" Ron replied as he continued glaring coldly.

Harry had no further chance of replying as Hermione walked towards them.

"Hey, guys!" She said happily as she sat next to Ron.

"Hi." Ron muttered harshly. Harry elbowed him. He did not want Ron ruining her evening because he was jealous and didn't dare to admit it.

"You look beautiful, Hermione." Harry said. Heroine's eyes lit up as she smiled brightly at him.

"Thank you, Harry!" She said delighted. Ron was still glaring, this time at his feet so Harry elbowed him again.

"Yeah, you look alright." Ron mumbled. Harry sighed inwardly. His friend was too stubborn for his own good.

"Thank you, Ronald." Hermione said coolly and then left as Viktor approached.

"Don't say it." Ron warned before Harry could open his mouth to say something. He decided to keep his mouth for now. He shouldn't interfere.

They sat in silence. Ron was still watching Hermione. He sought out Malfoy and found him pretty quickly. He'd given up dancing as well and was talking to Crabbe and Goyle, his two trusted followers.

He was standing not more than ten feet away from him. Draco slowly turned his head and his eyes rested upon him. Harry didn't break eye contact but started to blush as Draco smirked. It was a hostile smirk but Draco could hardly smile sweetly at him, could he? Still, the smirk was extremely cute.

Draco slowly made his way over to him.

"You got a problem with me, Potter?"

"Many problems, Malfoy." Harry replied. He glanced sideways at Ron who didn't seem particularly interested in what was happing next to him.

"Why don't we settle this outside? Don't want to get detention for hitting you again." Harry said, smirking.

"Fine." Draco said snarling and strode out of the Great Hall.

"I'll be right back." Harry said to Ron who grunted something in reply. Harry suspected that a bomb could explode next to him and he still wouldn't notice as he kept glaring at Viktor.

Harry left as well and found Draco leaning against the wall next to the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Weasely didn't seem to care you were threatening me again." Draco said laughing. It didn't sound mean, it was just a statement.

Harry smiled. "No, he didn't. He was too busy glaring at Viktor Krum for dancing with Hermione."

"Let's go find some place quiet." Draco suggested. They found a class room not so far from the Great Hall. Draco opened the lock with a spell and they entered, closing the door behind him. Draco switched on the light as Harry walked in the classroom and sat on the teacher's desk. Draco took place opposite from him on another desk.

They stared at each other for several seconds before Harry broke the silence.

"I'm sorry for hitting you."

"Don't be. I got it coming."

"Why didn't you tell Snape it was me?" Harry asked curiously.

Draco shrugged. "Didn't want to get you in trouble, that's all."

"Thanks. I don't know if I could've handled more detention with Snape. He made me clean a bunch cauldrons the muggle way and I suspect he made them extra dirty to make things harder."

Draco laughed. It was the most beautiful sound Harry had ever heard and he couldn't help but smile himself.

He looked down at his feet and felt Draco studying him. It was weird to be alone with Draco again after their last real conversation. For once, they didn't start shouting abuse at each other and it felt good to just sit with Draco again. The silence didn't feel awkward at all, not even after everything that had happened. It was just more prove that he shouldn't have broken up with Draco.

He finally looked up. Draco was sitting with his legs open and his hand resting next to his legs so that he was leaning forward slightly. Draco's expression was thoughtful and Harry had the feeling he didn't want to know what was going through his head now.

Harry didn't know what to say, afraid of saying the wrong thing. He wanted to say how much he had missed him and how much he loved him but he knew that wouldn't go over all that well at this moment.

Instead he waited until Draco broke the silence.

"Why are we here?" Draco asked with a wave around the classroom.

Harry shrugged. "Because it's meant to be."

Draco sighed at that and Harry realized this was one of those things Draco didn't want to hear at the moment.

"I know I was wrong, okay? I was just thinking about it and suddenly you were there and I couldn't not say it. I've regretted saying that almost from the moment I said it." Harry said sincerely as he gazed in Draco's eyes to show him he was telling the truth.

"You know what upset me the most about you saying that? That it was the truth. That I had put you in great danger by loving you. I felt guilty, also because I put your friends in danger. Don't get me wrong, I still don't like them but they are your friends and I knew you'd be devastated when something happened to them. I was angry because I couldn't change it. Angry because I am a Malfoy. I was never angry with you, only with myself." Draco explained quietly.

Harry stood up and walked the few inches between himself and Draco. He stood between his parted legs and rested his hands on Draco's knees. They were about the same height now. Harry looked him in the eye before speaking again.

"We'll figure out a solution to this. There's got to be something we can do that stops anyone from extracting information from you."

"Probably." Draco said sounding hopeful. The Slytherin slid his arms around his waist and pulled him closer so they were nearly chest to chest.

"I've missed you." Draco said, his breath caressing Harry's face.

"I've missed you too." Harry replied, closing the remaining distance between their mouth. Their lips brushed in a gentle kiss before Draco applied more pressure and forced his tongue between Harry's lips. Harry moaned surprised at his love's roughness but didn't object.

Draco's arms tightened almost painfully around him. Harry moved his hands from Draco's legs to his hair and stroke gently though the blond hair.

It was very good to have Draco this close again. This time he wouldn't make anymore stupid mistakes. There had to be a way to keep the information Draco had on him a secret. He was going to find out what.

He pulled away from the Slytherin when the boy's hands found their way under his dress robes.

"Draco, now is not a good time." Harry hissed as he pulled away slightly. Draco looked disappointed but nodded his agreement. Harry smiled and took in the sight before him. Draco's lips were swollen and slightly parted as he breathed heavily. Harry had managed to mess up his love's hair. The blond hair stood in all directions which was really adorable.

The music of the Great Hall drifted in the class room. The song was slow, the beat sensual.

Draco stood up and offered his hand to him. "Can I have this dance?"

Harry smiled pleased and took Draco's hand. The other boy pulled him close and wrapped his arms once again around his waist. Harry melted into the embrace and wrapped his own arms around Draco's neck. He rested his head against the taller boy's chest.

They danced slowly to the music, wrapped in each other's arms like it was meant to be.

"-not believe that you let Harry leave with Malfoy!" Came Hermione's voice from the hallway. They immediately jumped apart shocked and crept to the door to listen.

"Harry's big enough to take care of himself." Ron replied angrily.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Ronald! There may be peace between them but that doesn't mean it will last!" Hermione said. It sounded as if they had paused in front of the door to argue.

"I know, I know but Malfoy wouldn't dare to do anything in the castle!"

"You don't get it, do-"

"We better get out there before Granger kills him." Draco said smirking. Harry had to agree whole heartedly.

Draco reached for the doorknob but Harry stopped him.

"Fix your hair. It's a mess."

Draco glared slightly but after running his fingers through his hair once, the hair was back to perfect.

Draco swung the door open and strode past Hermione and Ron who's conversation stopped at once.

"Harry! What happened? Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did you hurt him?" Hermione asked, hands on her hips and still shooting glares in Ron's direction. Ron looked anything but pleased.

"Nothing happened. Yes, no, no." Harry answered.

"What did he want?" Ron asked.

"He wanted to have a little chat." Harry said with a fake glare in the direction Draco had headed into.

"You sure you're alright? You look a bit flustered." Hermione stated.

Harry bit the inside of his cheek to stop from laughing. "It's really okay, guys. Nothing happened. Let's go back to the Great Hall, shall we?"

He headed back before they could answer him. They could only follow. Harry couldn't help but smile and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wipe the smile of his face. All was well with the world again.

**To be continued**


	7. The act

**Disclaimer: **Don't own them

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews! I won't reply personally now because I want this posted and have to go off the computer. And just a little note: this is quite AU because although I'm following the events, I'm changing some stuff. You might have noticed.

**Right kind of wrong**  
**The act**

The holidays were over soon and lessons started again. No one was particularly looking forward to it. Their holidays had been filled with homework which were mainly a bunch of essays for various subjects. Vacation wasn't the right word for the two weeks off.

Harry also wasn't any closer to figuring the egg out. The task would take place the 24th of February which all of a sudden seemed very close. He had no idea how and where to start. Whenever he opened the egg, it made the most horrible, screeching noise. Perhaps he wasn't supposed to open the egg? But then what? He didn't know. Hermione didn't either. Even though he was supposed to figure it out on his own, she had gone to the library, trying to find something but had come up with nothing.

He'd even managed to convince Draco to see if he could find out what to do with the egg. Draco had asked Viktor Krum who apparently hadn't figured it out either. Then Draco had tried through various of his channels but they didn't know anything either. Harry didn't want to know what exactly those channels were. Draco had promised to keep his eyes and ears open and bug Viktor for it every few days.

Harry was happy that their relationship had yet again improved. They had tried to meet up as often as possible during the holidays which was not often because both had been busy with their truckload of essays. But when they met up, it was fun.

Both were happy with the improvement but Harry realized it was just calm before the storm. What would be the next trigger for a fight or for a break up? Could he deal with this? It was all way too confusing and he didn't want to think about this. Not now, not ever but he knew he was going to have to. He couldn't pretend their relationship was a good thing because it wasn't. He couldn't pretend their relationship had any kind of chance when everyone knew because it hadn't. It was depressing.

"Harry, mate, wake up." Ron said from somewhere next to him. Harry opened his eyes and blinked up at Ron who's head swam in his field of vision. His face was one big blur but he easily made out the red hair. He sat up and reached for his glasses. He put them on and Ron's face became clear. He looked around and noticed the other boys were already gone.

Much to his relief, Ron wasn't dressed yet which meant he wasn't about to be late and he still had enough time. Or perhaps not because Ron usually didn't look at the time and he knew Ron wasn't really punctual.

"Let's hurry up so we can have breakfast before lessons." Ron said impatiently, pulling his blankets back already.

"Yeah, okay.' Harry replied, getting up and pulling his clothes off. He was dressed in less than a minute and didn't even bother combing his hair which didn't help anyway.

He and Ron headed down to the common room with their bags. Hermione was waiting.

"Seriously, you guys need to get a watch." She said, hands on her hips and glaring.

"We don't need one because we've got you." Ron answered. Harry nodded his agreement. Hermione was the one that made sure that they got everywhere on time. Why buy a watch?

Hermione rolled her eyes and headed for the portrait hole. Harry and Ron smiled at each other and followed their friend. They nearly had to run to keep up with her.

Outside the Great Hall, they passed some Slytherins, among them Draco and his two followers.

"Well, well, Potter. Running a bit late?" Draco sneered as his group laughed for no obvious reason because it wasn't even funny.

"Get lost, Malfoy." Harry replied, glaring. The Slytherins left and the three entered the Great Hall. Harry looked back just in time to see Draco turn his head. They exchanged a smile before the other boy blushed and abruptly turned his head.

Harry rose an eyebrow and turned back to his friends. The reason for the blush became clear soon when he saw Hermione watch him with a weird expression. She had that thoughtful look in her eyes which meant she was thinking about something and close to figuring out a mystery. She always got that look before she discovered something. It was worrying. He could feel colour rise to his own cheeks and quickly sat down. His two friends sat on either side of him.

They ate quickly. Ron and Harry chatted about Quidditch while Hermione didn't say a word and barely ate. Harry had the sickening feeling she might know. He had to talk to Draco, make him act even more annoying than usual so she saw how much they hated each other. Or rather, how much they were supposed to hate each other.

Soon they headed for Charms which unluckily was with the Slytherins. Draco had obviously caught Hermione's look as well so hopefully he didn't stare at him like he used to stare at the other boy. They could miss that. He had to keep his eyes away from Draco which he knew from experience was very difficult because the other boy was so handsome, so nice to stare at.

When they reached the classroom right on time, everyone was waiting. Professor Flitwick hadn't arrived yet obviously.

"Hey, guys," Draco started loudly to his friends, "I think we should have a bet going. How many things will Potter and Weasley let explode this year?"

Harry nearly sighed in relief. Draco had seen the look and was creating a cover-up himself.

"Oh, shove it, Malfoy. Everyone here knows the two of us are better than your whole Slytherin lot combined." Harry retorted, much to every Gryffindor's delight. A quick glance at Hermione told him she still had that thoughtful look which meant more verbally abusing each other.

"My, my, your ego sure has grown, Potter. Must be from facing the Dark Lord every time. Perhaps one day your ego will become so big you think you can do everything and eventually get killed due to that. Why don't we have a bet for that? How long before the Dark Lord kills the boy-with-the-big-ego?" Malfoy said smirking.

Normally such a comment would have upset Harry deeply and made him do something he'd regret but he felt Draco didn't mean it and was just playing along. It was important that Hermione didn't figure it out. If it wasn't too late already.

Beside him his two best friends tensed and he heard angry hisses from several of his classmates as well who did not like what Malfoy had just said.

"Shut it, Malfoy! Unless you want to know how well this Gryffindor can do charms." Ron said threateningly.

Draco snorted. "Like in the second year when you tried to curse me and ended up cursing yourself. Yes, I'm very scared now."

The Slytherins laughed loudly again while Ron turned bright red and Hermione grabbed his arm to prevent him from flying at Malfoy.

Luckily at that moment professor Flitwick arrived and the students entered the classroom. The tension between the Slytherin and Gryffindors was clearly visible as students of both houses glared darkly at each other.

Harry once again risked a glance at Hermione who's glare would've killed Draco if possible. He hoped their little play had been enough to convince her she was wrong. She couldn't know. It was too dangerous.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry that it isn't that long but I wanted to update. Please let me know what you think! _


	8. Getting caught

**Disclaimer:** If I would own them, this would be a little more than fiction **smirks**

**A/N:** Because it's been a little over two weeks since I last updated, I decided on giving you guys a longer chapter! This is the longest chapter up to now and I intend to try to get all chapters this length.  
Thanks to _Loyal Slytherin_ for taking the time to review!

**Right kind of wrong**  
**Getting caught**

Hogwarts had become a battle field after the first lesson period that day. Slytherins and Gryffindors were at terms of war with each other. The Gryffindors were pissed off because of the comment Draco had made and the Slytherins were furious because Harry had insulted their intelligence.

Draco and Harry had been pretty much voted leader for their side as both were most respected. Draco because well, people didn't dare not to respect him and Harry because he was the boy-who-lived.

Harry was fine with that. It gave him a chance to act nasty to Draco so Hermione realized that look had meant nothing. So far it was working.

By lunch, Harry could see smoke coming out of Hermione's ears after another nasty comment from Draco. Ron looked ready to kill as well. He was muttering ways to curse Draco under his breath as were their other House mates. Not only fourth years had gotten caught up in this thing but all years had.

It was House loyalty at its best and that had to be admired. Each member carried his House colours with pride. An insult against someone of the House, was an insult against all.

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were literally caught up in the middle. Their tables stood between the Slytherin and Gryffindor one. Even for those two Houses, the tension was visible. Harry had noticed many Ravanclaws and Hufflepuffs fidget nervously in their chair and finish lunch in a hurry. They were obviously worried one of the two sides might start shooting curses at the other.

Most teachers were also casting nervous glances from table to table, obviously having heard about the disturbance but most teachers were used to this. One teacher however seemed to be enjoying this. Snape wore a smirk throughout the entire meal and Harry had the suspicion Snape would love to see someone curse someone else. Then it would be all Gryffindor's fault and then his least favourite professor could take more points from their House.

When lunch ended, the trio headed for the dungeons for Potions. This was going to be a dangerous lesson, Harry could feel it.

They reached the classroom fairly quickly. Many Gryffindors and Slytherins had already arrived and were talking tensely to their own friends. Everyone seemed to be waiting for the bomb to drop.

"Hey Potter, try not to blow us all up." Draco remarked snickering.

"Oh for heaven's sake, Malfoy! Aren't you getting bloody tired of saying that? You say that before every bloody lesson. Try something else why don't you?" Harry retorted, earning himself some chuckles from his classmates.

Draco glared and actually seemed at a loss for words. Harry smirked and saw a small smile appear around Draco's mouth. It was gone soon however.

Snape arrived soon and let the students in. They all entered. Like usual, the trio took a place near the back while Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson sat the row in front of him which was guaranteed to bring some trouble.

"Okay, class," Snape started in that usual disgusted way of voice, "It has come to my attention that there are some tensions between Gryffindor and Slytherin. I want none of that in my class. Be polite! The first one to make an inappropriate comment will get a detention tonight. Understood?"

"Yes, professor." The class echoed.

"Good, now for today's lesson, we will be mostly studying from our book. Everyone take page 34 and read the part about the dangers of a Love potion. Write down the most important stuff." Snape ordered. The next few minutes was a rustling of papers and pens. Then the class settled down and everyone started reading. Snape sat down as well and started reading the Daily Prophet, peeking over the paper to check on the class ever so often.

Not long later, Malfoy turned in his seat and tossed him a paper airplane. He smirked and turned back to his books.

Harry opened it. In it was text. He could feel Hermione's and Ron's discreet glances.

_Harry,_

_This text is magically enhanced so you are the only one who can read it. Granger and Weasley will see a childish drawing of you being eaten by a dragon. Want to get detention together?_

_Love, _

_Draco_

Harry chuckled but quickly disguised it as a cough. Detention with Draco… Now he'd love that. The chances were small Snape would leave them alone but perhaps he would and it would give them a chance to sneak off together afterwards. Deciding writing back was too risky, he went for getting them the detention.

He turned the paper into a ball and threw it against Draco's head. On his right, Hermione sighed while Ron nodded approvingly with a grin as the ball slightly messed up the Slytherin's blonde hair.

"Hey!" the boy exclaimed and turned in his seat to glare at him. Harry briefly looked at Snape who'd looked up.

"Nice picture of me, Malfoy." He sneered.

"Glad you liked it. Now if would only come true." Draco retorted.

"Potter, Malfoy, what did I say?" Snape snapped, getting up and walking over to them. He picked up the paper, unfolded it and quietly muttered a few words. Harry could see him smirk and at that moment he wanted to nothing more than curse him but he only wanted one detention. Not a life's worth of them.

"Okay, both of you, detention! My office tonight at eight." Snape said.

Harry suppressed a cry of triumph and instead glared at his professor who didn't seem to give a damn. If anything it made him look happy to have given him yet another detention.

"Way to go, Potter." Malfoy spat.

"Hey, you started it, you worthless git." Harry snapped back.

"Potter! Unless you want points taken from Gryffindor, I would shut up."

This drove Harry to a shocked silence. Snape hadn't taken points yet. He always took points whenever he opened his mouth. That was weird. Perhaps he didn't take points because then he'd have to take points from Slytherin as well but when had that ever bothered Snape. It was no secret he did a lot of favours for his House. Then why not take points now? He decided not to give it too much thought and stay quiet so he didn't give Snape a chance to change his mind.

Potions ended soon much to everyone's joy. Harry hated Potions about as much as he hated Snape. He supposed hating the teacher had something to with hating the subject. Not to forget he was rubbish at Potions!

The students left the classroom and headed for their next lesson. The rest of the day they would be Slytherin free which was a blessing.

"See you at detention, Potter." Draco sneered, strutting past him with his friends in tow and not minding who he had to shove aside to get away.

Harry hid yet another smile by pretending to straighten out his robes from where Draco had brushed against him, sliding a hand over his ass in the process.

"That bloody git." Ron muttered darkly, "I wish I could curse his sorry ass."

Harry snickered, getting him weird looks from his two best friends. He knew some other things he'd like to do with that ass but he had the feeling telling that to his friends wouldn't go over well, not to mention it would totally tip Hermione off.

The rest of the day passed quickly and Harry was looking forward to detention. Nothing could ruin his good mood.

They sat at dinner, eating from the delicious goods in front of them.

"Harry, why on earth are you grinning like that? You're about to have detention with Snape and Malfoy." Hermione said raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly! I'm hoping I can get back at Malfoy by jinxing him unnoticed." Harry said quickly and tried to wipe the grin of his face. It didn't go that well though. The grin refused to go.

"Good idea, mate!" Ron agreed cheerfully.

Hermione rolled her eyes in disapproval. "Be careful! I bet Malfoy can practice the Dark Arts."

"I'll be careful, don't worry." Harry reassured her. A look of worry remained in her eyes throughout dinner and the time in the common room he had before going to detention. He knew he had nothing to fear of Draco.

At ten to eight, he left, saying his friends goodbye and telling them not to wait up in case detention ran late.

He stopped himself from running and arrived at the dungeons right on time. Draco was already waiting there.

Draco smiled warmly. "Snape's not here yet."

"So I've noticed. I think we got Hermione off our backs too."

"Good and I'm sorry about what I said. You know I didn't mean those things." Draco said sincerely and stepped closer to him.

Harry smiled. Draco was so full of contradictions. Everyone had him pegged as a git which he really wasn't. Well, not always anyway.

"I know, babe. Don't worry about it." Harry said smiling and gave his boyfriend a quick kiss on the mouth.

Then they created some distance much to both their dislike but they couldn't risk Snape walking in on them. That would be very, very bad.

Snape arrived a minute later.

"Both of you still unharmed?" Snape asked coldly as he opened the door and let them in. They didn't bother answering. Snape could see the answer himself. Harry closed the door. Both boys followed Snape to his desk. Their teacher sat down and watched them.

"So which one of you is going to tell me why hell has all of a sudden broken loose?"

Neither answered. Harry had no idea what to answer to that.

Snape sat back and brushed some greasy hair away from his face.

"Mr Potter?"

"I'm just getting sick of Malfoy, _sir_." Harry answered.

Draco snorted loudly. "Boohoo, brave Potter can't handle bad Malfoy."

"Oh, shove it!" Harry retorted, holding back laughter at the funny comment. He risked a glance at Snape who was smiling. This threw him off guard. What was Snape smiling at this time? He was insulting Draco, Snape's favourite student, and Snape sat there smiling.

"I must say that was convincing." Snape remarked. Harry glanced sideways at Draco who's expression of confusion matched his.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, crossing his arms and voice dripping with suspicion.

"The I-hate-you act is very convincing but you're making it too obvious that you don't hate each other just by causing all those fights between you two. It's obvious."

"What is?" Harry asked defensively although he knew Snape knew about them. He swallowed. That was hardly good.

"That the two of you are together." Snape answered smugly, "Oh, and Draco, nice enhancement spell but you should know by now I know all the tricks. I know when a paper is enhanced to make it look like something else to hide something."

Harry sighed and closed his eyes while Draco groaned.

"Don't worry, boys. I won't tell anyone. But Draco, I am disappointed you didn't tell me."

"We're already putting too many people at risk by being together. I didn't want to put you at risk too. You're the closest thing I have to family." Draco said sincerely, causing Harry to open his eyes and see the expression of pure misery on his lover's face.

He knew how Draco felt about Snape, yet he couldn't help but dislike the Potions teacher. Snape had been picking at him since year one and he wasn't one to forget such a thing that easily. Okay, he had forgotten those things pretty easily with Draco but that was different because he loved the boy.

Harry decided to keep his mouth shut though. Draco probably didn't want to hear any snorts or retorts at this moment.

"Draco, no one will ever find out from me. The Dark Lord trusts me and I'm very good at Occlumency. No one can find out."

"But what about truth potions? You can't do anything about that, can you?" Harry commented. He couldn't help it. He had to say something.

"Dear boy, my mind is strong. I know when someone has slipped a truth potion in my drink. I can fight it." Snape said disapprovingly. He was obviously very displeased with the comment.

Harry made a face at him, not particularly caring Snape could get him detention for the rest of the year. He got a nasty look from Draco that clearly told him to shut his mouth.

"Don't worry, Draco. I have everything under control. It's you and mister Potter I'm more worried about. Will you be able to keep your relationship a secret?"

"Well, I was thinking. Perhaps you could teach us Occlumency."

"What?!" Harry exclaimed. Why hadn't he heard about that yet? "Snape teaching us Occlumency? No way!"

"Harry!" Draco said warningly, almost threateningly.

Harry glared back. "We should discuss these things together!" he nearly yelled. Communication was very important and Draco wasn't communicating.

"Well, I haven't heard anything useful from you yet! At least I've taken the time to look things up!"

"It's not like I've been busy with something else, like let's say, trying to figure out the egg before the next assignment so I don't get killed by who knows what!" Harry yelled back. He didn't like Draco's tone. He seemed to be insinuating he didn't care enough to find a solution.

"Boys, please. You're sounding like an old married couple." Snape interrupted with a hint of a smile.

Harry crossed his arms and glared between the Slytherin and his Head of House.

"I wouldn't mind teaching you Occlumency but be aware that it is very hard and tiring, especially the first few times. You will need daily practice and shouldn't give up no matter what. It takes a long period of time to master Occlumency. Not many people succeed in mastering it at your age."

"It doesn't matter." Draco said determinedly, "The risks of being caught are way too big."

"Hello! Doesn't my opinion matter?" Harry interrupted angrily.

"No, it doesn't and you know why? I trust Severus and I know he will protect us. He is going to teach me Occlumency so deal with it! I'm doing this for your protection and those of your friends as well, remember?" Draco yelled. Harry saw he was on the border of furious and he couldn't blame him. He was being pretty selfish. Snape would not do anything to jeopardise Draco, he knew that much.

"You're right. I'm sorry." Harry said, "I suppose I should learn it too, just in case. Professor Snape, will you please teach me too?" He felt like vomiting at his own politeness towards Snape but politeness was in order now.

"I will but I'm only doing this for Draco, remember that." Snape said coldly with that look of disgust in his eyes that seemed to be there whenever he looked at him. Harry forced himself to nod instead of glare.

Draco seemed quite pleased with this although he didn't understand how he could get so upset off him insulting Snape but not the other way around. He had the feeling Draco would probably laugh when Snape insulted him. Alright, that wasn't fair. That wasn't true. After all, family is more important than a boyfriend, he knew that much.

"Draco, I just want you to know I'm glad you found someone even if it's Potter. I only want to see you happy. You can come to me for any kind of trouble, okay?" Snape said and Harry saw he meant it.

Draco nodded and walked to the other side of the desk to hug his godfather. Harry felt a pang of jealousy there. He wished Sirius could be here for him like Snape was here for Draco. Or better yet, he wished his parents were here.

"And Potter, if you hurt him, you will have to answer to me, understood? I will make your life a living hell if I see him unhappy. Oh, and don't think I'll do you any favours now. You will be treated as always."

"Sev, he won't hurt me and if he does, it won't be intentional and with good reason. We have had our issues and will have our issues but that is for us to sort out and deal with. All that matters is that he makes me happy." Draco said, walking back to him and taking his hand.

Harry smiled at the simple gesture of love and looked Snape in the eye.

"I have no intention of hurting him. I love him too much for that."

Snape seemed to consider his words before nodding and smiling slightly.

"For your detention," Snape started. Harry's face fell. He'd hoped Snape would let it slide. No such luck obviously. "I want you to have fun and enjoy each other's company. I'll be back in an hour and then you can go back to your common room."

A huge smile broke out across Draco's face and even Harry couldn't help but smile thankfully at this.

* * *

_Three guesses what my next chapter will be about… The detention! Please read and review! I really want to hear your opinions about this story, good or bad._


	9. The Detention

**Disclaimer:** Of course I own them! That's the reason why this is a fanfic. 

**Author's note:** English still isn't my first language. I'm as so sorry for the late update. Apart from major writer's block, I also had a lot to do for school.

Reviews:  
_Airlady, Shania Maxwell, AngelikRebel, The Muffin of Death: thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!  
SpiderLily: Especially for you, the start of their relationship! Thanks for saying I should. It did cause me major writer's block but I have it now, lol!_ Right kind of wrong

**Right Kind of wrong**  
**Detention**

Snape smiled at both of them and Harry noticed the smile was actually genuine. For once there was no disgust or coldness in his eyes. His eyes were warm and caring. It was a side Harry had never seen before and a side that actually made the Potions master look less intimidating and more friendly. It was quite out of character for the person who seemed to live to make his life a living hell.

Harry however still couldn't bring himself to start liking Snape and he couldn't shake the feeling Snape was up to something. It probably just was him being paranoid and crazy but the sudden change was too weird for words.

They both thanked him before Snape headed out the room and closed the door.

Harry and Draco turned to each other and smiled widely. Harry knew there were a lot of things that needed to be talked about now but he didn't want to worry about those things for a couple of minutes.

As if on cue, they moved closer and their arms wrapped around each other. Their lips met for a hard, searching kiss. Their tongues duelled for control but neither could win. When the need for breath became too much, Harry pulled away from the desperate kiss and placed small kisses along Draco's throat, giving them both a chance to catch their breath. Then their lips met again for a more soft and gentle kiss in which they caressed each other's tongues and explored the other's mouth.

When they were satisfied with the physical part, they pulled apart and pulled up two chairs so they could sit down and face each other.

"We came way too close to being discovered by Hermione today." Harry started, addressing the issue head on.

"I know. We've got to be more careful." Draco agreed, "And Severus finding out about us isn't good either."

"No, it isn't. And I'm sorry about earlier. I may have been a bit rude." Harry admitted albeit reluctantly.

"May have?" Draco inquired smirking.

"Okay, I was rude." Harry said smiling apologetically, "But seriously about that Occlumency thing, you should've told me about this."

"I figured it wouldn't be necessary to tell you because I never actually intended on asking, at least not when Severus didn't know about us. But you got to face it, what else can we do?"

"That may be so but I'd like to be aware of these things."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Draco apologized although he sounded slightly irritated to Harry's ears. That didn't go over very well. Communication was highly important and that apology sounded empty. Draco had apologized for the sake of not upsetting him but didn't realize what he was actually saying.

"You're such a git, you know that?"

"What did I do this time?" Draco asked honestly confused.

"Never mind." Harry said sighing. There was just no point.

"No, what?"

"You've just apologized for the sake of not upsetting me without actually getting what I'm saying."

"I get what you're saying! We have to talk about things and I didn't! Don't make such a big deal out of this!" Now Draco definitely sounded irritated.

"Excuse me?" Harry said, not quite believing his ears. He glared at his boyfriend who was just sitting there, staring at him. He was not making a big about deal this! He was right for heaven's sake!

"Harry, please stop arguing about this. I didn't phrase that last very well. I'm a jerk, happy?"

That still didn't sound as if he meant it.

"You… you're a…" Harry trailed off, realizing he was in fact making a big deal about this and was generally searching drama where there was none. Draco had said sorry and even if he didn't really mean it, it would have to do. Draco hardly ever said sorry.

"Git, idiot, asshole, son of a bitch," Draco supplied helpful, "hottie?"

Harry couldn't help but smile when Draco waggled his eyebrows suggestively and leered.

"Oh, shut up." He mumbled affectionately. Draco smiled and looked entirely too pleased with himself after getting that smile but Harry didn't mind. He should let it slide. They had an hour together and he didn't want to pass that arguing about something like this. Another time perhaps but not now. Draco, however didn't drop it just yet. The Slytherin boy leaned his elbows on his knees so that he was leaning forward. He made sure to make eye contact.

"I am sorry. I was planning on discussing this with you eventually but now seemed like the perfect time to ask Severus about it. It was meant to be a last resort."

"Okay. Let's just drop this and enjoy the hour we have." Harry said smiling and leaning back in his chair to stare at the other boy, "I was thinking about the beginning of our relationship yesterday."

"Yeah? What about it?" Draco asked, curiously.

"About how we went from enemies to lovers." Harry replied, thinking back to the day which had been close to the beginning of the school year. As usual, they had started fighting and exchanging insults the moment they had laid eyes on each other on the train. That was how it went every year. It was almost like a tradition. A bad tradition but a tradition nonetheless. The feeling of distrust towards each other was also very much present. Harry had always had the feeling Draco was up to no good.

Harry was sneaking around the castle with his invisibility cloak. It was something he liked to do for the simple reason that at night, the hallways were quiet, deserted and only dimly lit. It was a nice break from his overly lit and over active common room. Even in his dorm, he couldn't find peace because half the boys snored so whenever he wanted to think, he took his cloak and wandered around the quiet halls, making sure not to get caught.

_This night, he didn't really need to think. He just wanted to be somewhere where no one could disturb him and where he could have some peace and quiet._

_He realized that walking the halls this late wasn't all that clever because lots of things could happen but he was more or less safe under his cloak. _

_When he turned around a corner, he nearly collided with someone. He could just in time jump out of the way to prevent being hit and discovered. A person rushed past him and Harry recognized him at once. The perfect blonde hair belonged to Malfoy. What was he doing up so late?_

_Harry decided that he wanted to know. What if Draco was up to any funny business? He followed him towards the heavy wooden doors that led outside. Harry made sure to stick close to Malfoy so he could slip out when he did. It worked._

_The outside air hit him. There was a light breeze but it was still pretty warm. He continued to follow Draco who was heading towards the Forbidden forest. Harry's curiosity only grew. Was Malfoy going to meet somewhere there? Perhaps Snape?_

_They entered the Forbidden forest and Malfoy pulled out his wand, muttering 'Lumos'. The light was small but enough for Harry to still see Malfoy. He, however, couldn't see where he was putting his feet anymore. He didn't want to risk taking his wand though so he tried to be careful where he put his feet._

_Malfoy was moving quite fast and Harry saw nothing but the shape of Malfoy's body. He was bound to trip soon. Two seconds after that thought, it happened. His foot got stuck behind something and he hit the ground with a groan, the cloak falling half of off him. He looked up and saw Malfoy had stopped. _

"_Who's there?" Malfoy said, turning around. Harry tried to cover himself again with the cloak but he didn't think he was fast enough. He could see Malfoy's face and saw the narrowing of his eyes._

_Harry attempted to stand up, intended on walking away but Malfoy moved faster then he'd imagined and yelled a spell. His body froze and his cloak slid from his still form. _

"_Well, well, if it isn't Potter." Malfoy said smirking as he picked up the cloak and studied it, "Interesting. Very interesting. Invisibility Cloak, huh? I heard about those." _

_Harry hated not being able to move. If he had been able to move, he would've kicked Malfoy's ass._

_Then the blonde sighed and he seemed to change completely. The smirk was gone, so was the cold look in his eyes. With a flick of his wand, he undid the curse and gave him the cloak._

"_Go back to the castle, Potter." He said and turned away from him._

_Harry's shock wore off. Malfoy just let him off the hook. He'd been completely under Malfoy's control and the boy let him go. That was a first. He didn't quite know what to do now. He didn't want to go back because he was quite curious as to why he'd let him go._

"_Malfoy! You do realize it's quite dangerous in the forest right? I'm staying with you so I don't have to feel guilty in the morning if they announce they found your body here." Harry said lamely._

"_I don't want company thanks." Draco said._

" _Face it, you're suck with me. What's wrong?"_

"_None of your business, really." Draco answered._

"_Don't be so annoying, Malfoy. We're here, we're alone, you can talk to me." _

_Draco watched him for a moment and nodded. "Ever felt trapped? Forced into a life you don't wantt?"_

_Harry snorted, "You're talking to the boy-who-lived. My life has been led for me since the beginning. Of course I'm forced into a life I don't want."_

"_So you do understand what I'm going through. If you repeat what I'm going to say next, I will personally kill you, okay? I do not wish to become a Death eater. I just want to lead a normal life away from the war, away from my father and the Malfoy name. I can't be what my father wants me to be and I don't want to either."_

_Harry was rendered speechless. He had no idea that git actually had a heart. He'd just proven the opposite. The sadness in Draco's voice was hard to bear for Harry because he knew that feeling, knew how badly Malfoy wanted to get out but couldn't. He realized they had more in common than anyone could've ever imagined. _

"_Anyway, why would you care? We've been fighting for as long as I can remember."_

_Harry smiled softly, "We have, haven't we? And I can't even remember what triggered it in the first place."_

"_I insulted Weasley, you defended him."_

"_Oh yeah," Harry said, now remembering said moment. What if Draco had never insulted Ron? It was something he'd often asked himself. Would they have been enemies? What if he hadn't met Ron? They might've ended up friends. _

_He didn't even know why he was asking himself these questions. Friends with Malfoy? Definitely not. It was not as if he cared about that git. At the same time, he realized that wasn't exactly true. If he didn't care, he would've walked away and left Draco on his own. If he didn't care, he wouldn't ask himself those questions._

_The silence between them was becoming awkward. Why was he here anyway?_

"_Why are you still here anyway?" Draco asked curiously. Harry turned to look at him with an expression of shock._

"_Did you just read my mind or something? Because I was just wondering the same thing." He asked and then realized it sounded a bit harsh._

"_I sure as hell didn't ask for you to be here," Draco snapped annoyed._

_Harry rolled his eyes, "You are such a drama queen! I make one remark that came across a bit hard and you start snapping!" _

_He heard an irritated sigh, "Let's stop fooling ourselves here, shall we? This whole being nice to each other thing-"_

"_Which lasted about five minutes," Harry interrupted. _

"_- Is not working out. We're enemies," Draco continued, obviously ignoring him, "I don't care about you and you don't care about me."_

"_And how do you know that? And when did you become mister sensitive?" he asked dumbfounded. Whatever happened to the snappy Malfoy, the one who lived to make his life a living hell?_

"_Did it ever occur to you I may have a heart? That I'm not what people make me out to be? That I'm not who I seem to be?"_

"_Seeming and being, yes." Harry replied, thinking about those words he had picked up somewhere. There was a difference between them, "And yes, it did occur to me you're not who you pretend to be because you admitted that much five minutes ago!"_

"_Oh, yes." Draco replied, sounding rather uncomfortable._

"_And whoever said I didn't care? The fact that we're fighting constantly and insult each other on a daily basis while hating each other doesn't mean I don't care for you," Harry said and then thought about what he had said. _

_  
Draco burst out in laughter, "No, Harry, those things would exactly mean you don't care," he said snickering. _

"_Okay, that did sound rather wrong," Harry admitted chuckling, "And did you just call me Harry?"_

"_Er, it is your name, isn't it?"_

"_Thanks for pointing that out, Malfoy. It's just you never use my first name. And that also makes your little speech about not caring and us being enemies a load of crap, since you just used my first name."_

"_That doesn't mean anything and we should probably head back to the castle," Draco replied quickly before turning abruptly and walking away._

_Harry snorted and went after him, "Just admit it, you care about me."_

"_Potter!" Draco replied, sounding positively annoyed now. _

"_Admit it!" Harry said teasingly. He didn't know where this newfound courage or feeling of camaraderie came from._

_Draco stopped just as abruptly as he had walked away, causing Harry to run into him. _

"_Fine! You want to now if I care? I'll show you."_

_Before Harry could do as much as raise an eyebrow at his enemy, he was pushed up against a tree and lips descended on his. He let out a surprised gasp, subconsciously opening his mouth, allowing Draco's tongue to slide in to do a quick sweep of his mouth. Before he could even grasp what exactly was happening or before he could respond, Draco pulled away and walked off again._

_Harry stood dazed against the tree. One hand went up to his lips and he ran his fingers over them. Draco had kissed him! Malfoy had bloody kissed him! Anger bubbled up in him._

"_Malfoy!" He bellowed, "You cannot go around kissing people and then walk away like that!"_

"_Oh yes, I can," Came Draco's reply._

_Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. How did that stuck-up git dare to walk away from him after kissing him? Damn him to hell! He ran after him, grabbed his arm and spun him around. His fist had formed and before he realized what he was doing, it connected with the side of Draco's face._

"_What the bloody hell was that for?" Draco asked rubbing his jaw but not making any attempt to hit back. _

"_For kissing me, you moron!" Harry shouted._

"_And whose fault was that?" he returned, "You were the one asking me if I cared."_

"_A yes would've done fine," he sputtered before his mind started to work again and he started drawing some conclusions. Some more ridiculous than others until he came up with the conclusion that seemed most likely._

"_You're just messing with me, aren't you?" He asked, dangerously narrowing his eyes._

_Draco threw up his hands and rolled his eyes, "And they say you're supposed to be smart. Yes, I kissed you because I wanted to mess around with you."_

_Sarcasm was dripping from his voice which meant Harry had drawn the wrong conclusion. His eyes widened when he reached another one which was highly improbable although perhaps not at this moment._

"_You… you have feelings for me?" he asked._

"_And we have a winner," Draco muttered before once again walking off. Harry's brain needed a few seconds to process this and he once again had to run behind him._

"_Don't you think we should talk about this?"_

"_No!"_

"_No?" Harry repeated, incredulously, "You tell me you have feelings for me and walk off. Just like when you kissed me and when I asked you whether you cared or not! Damn, Malfoy, you have some serious talking issues."_

_Draco whirled around, "You forced all this out of me!"_

"_Oh yes, I forced you to kiss me," he remarked dryly as he crossed his arms and glared. _

_The fact that they were still in the dark forest didn't quite register at this moment because he was too busy fighting with Draco and attempting to get some answers out of that stubborn git. _

"_Just forget I said anything!" Draco muttered and Harry saw him getting ready to walk off again. Not this time he wouldn't. He grabbed his arm and kept a firm grip._

"_How long have you had feelings for me?"_

"_Let go of me!"_

"_Answer the bloody question!" _

"_I don't know. I realized it over the summer when I actually missed you and started to realize the only reason I fought with you was to get you to talk to me even if it was not really talking but rather shouting abuse at each other and attempting to hex each other now and then." _

"_You missed me?" Harry asked stunned, letting go. Draco didn't walk away much to his relief._

"_Are you going to make me repeat everything I say because if so, I'm out of here and by the way, why am I telling you these things anyway? By tomorrow you'll have told everyone. Oh, forget it." Draco said sighing, running a hand through his hair. At least he didn't attempt to walk off._

_Harry wasn't sure how to react or what to do. Malfoy had feelings for him? Definitely weird and wrong as well. Or it was supposed to feel wrong but the feeling of excitement told him he didn't think it was wrong, not at all. He could hardly deny Draco was gorgeous because he was. Perfect blond hair, clear grey eyes, great smile and a great body. His eyes wandered from Draco's face down his body._

"_Oh, you are not checking me out!" Draco yelled shocked._

_Harry smirked at him, "What if I am?" he flirtatiously waggled his eyebrows and send him a shy smile._

"_This is not happening, this is not happening," Draco muttered to himself sounding a bit embarrassed and lost, "We should really get back. The forest is dangerous and all."_

_This time Draco did walk off and Harry knew he couldn't let it happen. Draco was done talking and if they walked away now, they would never talk about this again and Harry somehow couldn't let that happen. So on impulse, he grabbed Draco's arm, pulled him back and pressed his lips on the other boy's. He wrapped his arms around Draco's neck and felt the Slytherin's arms come around him. _

_The kiss was over soon and they looked at each other, surprise written over both of their faces at Harry's reaction. He still couldn't quite figure out why he had kissed him but knew he had enjoyed the kiss very much. This evening had totally changed his view on Draco but he knew his sudden feelings for Draco couldn't have come like that. They must've been there before. He didn't want to think about that too much right now because it would only confuse him._

"_Er, castle?" Draco suggested._

_Harry let go, blushing, "Good idea." He said and kept a firm grip on the cloak he had nearly dropped several times already, "So how about we meet back here tomorrow night and talk about this? At the moment, I'm a little confused." Harry said, not able to stop his mind from racing and telling him he'd had feelings for Draco as well at the end of last year. If he was completely honest with himself, he had to admit he had missed him too over the summer. Only then he hadn't realized what the feelings meant. He'd confused them for hate because he was supposed to hate Draco._

"_Okay and yes, me too," Draco agreed._

_They reached the heavy wooden doors. Before Draco could open them, Harry stopped him and pressed a quick kiss on his lips before putting on his cloak and heading back towards his common room with a goofy grin on his face._

Draco chuckled, "I can believe that. You actually got me to talk to you but I suppose I've just always wanted to talk to someone about how I feel and I found you."

Harry smiled and took Draco's hands in his, "You have and if we weren't supposed to be enemies, I would tell everyone about us so they all know you're mine."

"Oh, I'm yours, huh? Don't you mean that you're mine?" Draco asked teasingly, wanting to be the dominant male again.

"No, I don't," he replied winking, "And besides, what does it matter? I belong to you, you belong to me. We belong to each other."

Draco seemed to have lost his ability to speak at this and simply nodded. His eyes were glittering a bit. Harry to his big shock discovered it were tears but didn't comment.

"Yeah, you're right." Draco eventually spoke.

The remaining time was spend talking and making out. Snape returned exactly an hour after leaving and sent them off to their common rooms after telling them their first Occlumency lesson would be the next day after lessons under the form of detention.

**To be continued**

R&R! Make my day!


	10. Occlumency

**Disclaimer:** They belong to JK Rowling.

**Author's note**: I'm sorry for the long wait… again. Writer's block and school suck!

**Reviews:** Thanks to The Muffin of Death and Talo81 for reviewing!

**Right kind of Wrong  
****Occlumency**

Draco and Harry were waiting outside Snape's office for their first Occlumency lesson. Harry was quite truthfully scared for it. Snape would be able to go into his mind and see stuff from when he was younger or stuff from him and Draco. He didn't want that. His mind was his own but he realized he needed it. And so did Draco. They knew they were going to need a hell of a lot of practice because it was really advanced magic.

Harry didn't know much about Occlumency but he knew he would have to clear his mind, empty his head so Snape wouldn't be able to see any of his memories. He remembered the year before when Remus had taught him how to conjure a Patronus. That had cost him a lot of practice and wasn't as advanced as Occlumency. He hoped he wouldn't faint as much as he did then because it was amazing how big bruises you could get from falling on the ground.

"Hey Harry, try not to look so scared." Draco said smiling at him. Draco was leaning casually against the wall next to him, looking as fine as ever. Nothing seemed casual with Draco. Everything seemed planned somehow like he knew perfectly how to stand to look intimidating, sexy… He'd once mentioned it and Draco had laughed, had said that wasn't his intention but Harry often got the feeling he was standing like that just to get a reaction out of him because Draco knew how much he liked that casual stance.

"Yeah well, I'm about to have my mind invaded by my least favourite teacher. I will have to clear my mind in order to get it to work while my thoughts are racing every second: I worry about us, about the tournament, about you. It's easier said than done." Harry replied. Draco pushed himself off against the wall and came to stand in front of him. He placed his hands on his shoulders.

"It will go fine. We can trust Severus. He won't speak of what he sees in your mind or mine for that matter. And I will be there to stop Severus when you can't handle it. It will be fine. Just give it your best shot. That's all he can ask." Draco spoke soothingly.

Harry placed a hand against Draco's cheek. "You're always so calm, so collected."

"Appearances, love. Appearances."

Harry's hand slid in Draco's soft blonde hair and he pulled the other boy's head closer to his so he could kiss those perfect lips, the lips that left kisses down his neck and chest, the lips that could bring him such pleasure. He kissed him softly and pulled away.

At that time Snape arrived, giving them both a small smile. He looked tired, Harry noticed. Snape opened the door. Harry picked up his bag with his invisibility cloak and Marauder's map and followed Draco and Snape in.

"Are you both ready?" Snape asked, wasting no time. They both nodded.

"Okay, good. In a minute, I will be pointing my wand at you and I will say Legilimens. I can do it silently but you need to know when to be prepared. Before I do that, I want you to clear your mind, rid yourself of all emotions. I don't expect you to be able to block me out on your first few lessons but you will be able to do it quicker every lesson until you can keep me out completely. It will take time so don't get impatient or frustrated when you can't get the hang of it. You may use your wand to protect yourself. This lesson is only to see how well you can handle it." Snape explained.

Harry could feel butterflies of nervousness flutter in his stomach. This was not going to go well.

"I'll start." Draco said. He took his wand and closed his eyes, obviously trying to rid himself of all memories like that. Harry sat down on a nearby chair, put his bag down and watched as Snape pointed his wands.

"Legilimens!" he said. Harry watched Draco. He saw him squeeze his eyes shut even tighter, probably attempting to block Snape out.

"No!" Draco yelled and Harry wasn't sure whether Draco was aware of yelling or not. He saw small drops of sweat form on his forehead and his face clearly showed signs of distress. Harry looked at Snape who still looked as focused as before. His gaze returned to Draco who released another shout and fell to one knee. Harry flew to his feet.

"Stop it!" he yelled at Snape. Snape seemed to stop the spell and Harry kneeled down next to Draco, placing a hand on his shoulder. His boyfriend opened his eyes and Harry could see the expression of pain. It made him wonder what his memories were but he didn't ask. If Draco wanted to share anything, he would tell. Harry smiled.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Phew, it's been too long since I practiced." Draco said, getting up with his help.

"You've done this before?"

"My father attempted to teach me when I was ten. Needless to say, it didn't go all that well but I managed to force him out after a few seconds. I thought I would've been able to still do it but obviously not."

"Foolish thought, Draco." Snape said. They both looked at him and Harry saw he looked a bit worried about his godson.

"I know. Let's try again."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, removing his hand from Draco's shoulder. The Slytherin smiled reassuringly and nodded. Harry sat back down and glared at Snape although he knew it wasn't his fault that he was in pain. It was necessary. Yet he didn't like to see Draco struggle with whatever he was feeling.

"Legilimens!"

Harry once more studied Draco. His eyes were squeezed shut again and he was biting his lip. He shook his head slightly and then his eyes flew open and a smile of triumph formed on his face.

Harry looked at Snape just in time to see him stagger back a bit.

"Well done, Draco." Snape commented, "That was good. You've done enough for today. Potter?"

Harry took his place and spread his legs slightly so he was standing steadily. He grabbed his wand.

"Clear your mind." Snape instructed.

Harry did his best to comply but he didn't succeed. Whenever he attempted to forget everything, a new thought entered his mind. How could one possibly empty his mind? Before he had a chance to say he wasn't succeeding in emptying his mind, Snape said the spell.

Long forgotten memories flashed in front of his eyes Being locked in the broom closet by Uncle Vernon… Uncle Vernon's red face during another shouting match… Dudley and his friends teasing him, pushing him on the ground… Dust falling on him from when Dudley stomped on the stairs… Hagrid kicking down the door at the cabin and taking him with him… Him arguing with Hermione about Ron… Draco and him kissing.

"NOO!" he heard himself yell before he became aware of a stinging pain in both his knees. The memories went away and he realized he was sitting on his knees, head bend. He was looking at the ground and he was panting. He became aware of Draco next to him before he felt his hand, rubbing soothing circles on his back.

"You're not trying hard enough, Potter." Came Snape's sneering voice. Harry got the distinct feeling Snape was probably enjoying this, seeing him getting bullied by his uncle.

"It's difficult." He said through gritted teeth as he stood up, feeling a little weak and light headed. He wasn't going to give up though. Draco pulled away from him.

Harry tried to clear his mind again. He was briefly aware of Snape saying the spell before memories once again started to flash as if they were being forced out.

Seeing Ginny lie on the ground in the Chamber of secrets… the snake coming at him… Tom Riddle appearing in front of him… Hermione running up to him… Aunt Madge blowing up… being inside the Shrieking Shack and fighting Snape…

He managed to force Snape out at that moment, desperately preventing him from seeing more. It again seemed to take a huge amount of power since he was panting heavily again.

"That was better, Potter." Snape said, only slightly less sneering than before.

Harry glared but attempted to stop glaring when Draco came to stand next to him. Last thing he wanted was to have another argument with his boyfriend about Snape.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine." Harry replied, although he felt quite drained. Advanced magic was definitely not on his list of favourite magic to learn. It was advanced for a reason. A fourth year shouldn't be able to do things like this but then again, when had he ever stuck to what he was supposed to know? He was now skilled at producing a perfect patronus, something some adults still struggled with according to Professor Lupin. He had faced Voldemort twice already, one time like he had been fifty years ago and once like he was now. At least Harry prayed he still hadn't found a body. That would be really bad, not only for him but for the entire Wizarding world as well. He always had to be prepared though. He was the Boy-who-lived, the boy-who-was-supposed-to-defeat-Voldemort. It always made him want to snort. He was not your average fourth year wizard but going up against the second most powerful wizard of the world was totally pushing his luck.

And luck was just what it was that kept him alive. Luck and sheer stupidity. He hadn't know what he was getting himself into when he started investigating the whole Fluffy, Nicolas Flamel thing. He'd survived because Dumbledore had gotten back in time and because he'd had Ron and Hermione backing him up. The second year was hardly his fault though. He hadn't asked to hear that stupid snake and he had to save Ginny, no doubts about that. The third year was only slightly his fault. It hadn't been his fault that he got attacked by Dementors or that Sirius dragged Ron away by his leg. Nope, that had not been his fault. This year was sure as hell not his fault. He was lucky to be still alive.

"I think that's enough for now." Snape said, breaking through his thoughts. "It went relatively well for both of you, I'm surprised if I'm honest. Our next lesson will be in two days. Before going to bed, I want you to practice at closing your mind. It's essential that you do because it's definitely not easy. Now, go straight back to your common rooms."

"Of course, Sev." Draco said smiling and grabbing his hand.

"I mean it, Draco. Wandering the halls it too dangerous, especially for Potter. We still don't know who put his name in the cup." Snape said sternly, and even slightly worried. Harry couldn't be sure whether Snape was worried for him or worried for Draco's safety since it was all too clear Draco didn't plan on going back to the common room.

That made Harry think. He was putting Draco in danger too by sneaking around with him. Whoever had entered him didn't mean well, so much was for sure. Whoever had entered him, was counting on the fact that he would get killed during one of the tasks and this moment, that might just be the case, considering he wasn't any closer to figuring the egg out.

"We'll be careful. Thanks for the lesson."

Harry got out a thanks too and grabbed his bag before Draco pulled him out of the room.

Harry stopped Draco as they turned around a corner and seemed to be heading further away from the Slytherin common room.

"Snape's right, it's too dangerous." Harry said, worriedly, starting in the blonde's silver/grey eyes.

"I can take care of myself and I know you can too."

"I know but we don't know who we're up against here, Draco. I don't want you to get hurt because of me… or worse." Harry said. He may just be overreacting but he didn't want to take any chances. He cared far too much about Draco to let him put himself in any kind of danger. Whoever was behind it, might find out they were a couple and tell. It was a fair bet that whoever was behind it, had ties to the Death eater and the Dark Lord because he couldn't think of any one else who would want to get him out of the way that badly.

Draco sighed and placed a hand against his cheek. "You worry too much, Potter." He said softly and affectionately, stroking his thumb across the flesh. Harry briefly closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

"Only because I care, Draco." He breathed out.

"I know, babe. But I want to be with you now, ever if it's only for an hour, or half and hour. Whatever I get myself into, will be at my own risk." Draco said, leaning in to kiss him. Harry wrapped his arms around Draco's neck and returned the kiss. He soon pulled away.

He knew he should insist that Draco go back to his common room, should just walk him back but he couldn't. His heart ached for Draco right now, just to hold him, kiss him, talk to him. That's what he wanted now. That's what he needed. He needed to be loved by Draco. He needed to know that their fights during the day were fake. In his heart he realized they were. But the insults they sometimes exchanged, hurt. What he said, what Draco said, it hurt both but it was necessary for the sake of keeping their relationship a secret.

"But on one condition only." He started and shrugged off his bag. He took out the Invisibility cloak and map. "You wear the cloak."

"Why don't we just both wear the cloak? We can wander around the castle a bit and find a classroom or just walk."

Harry had to admit he liked that idea. The cloak was definitely big enough for the two of them since he and his two best friends fit under it as well. He'd be able to press close to Draco and they would remain unseen.

He handed the cloak to Draco who swung it over the both of them. Harry pulled out his wand.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," he whispered tapping on the map. The hallways and classroom started to form. He noticed Snape was still in the classroom which was no surprise since they hadn't seen him come by. He was pacing.

Draco wrapped an arm around his waist and held the cloak with the other. The warmth of Draco's body was soothing and quite a turn on too. He scanned the map. Basically all classrooms were empty which was not surprising at this hour. Filch and his cat were wandering around the third floor. He saw some students walk around as well. Lucky for them there didn't seem to be any teachers around to catch them or they would be in serious trouble, just like they would be if they got caught which was unlikely since that they had two of the most powerful sneak around tools: the cloak and the map.

Draco was watching from over his shoulder and Harry felt his hot breath in his neck, making his skin tingle. They needed a classroom and preferably now.

"We can go here," he said pointing to a class room a floor higher. He chose that one because it wasn't too far from the Slytherin common room. He knew Draco could use a spell to let himself be like a chameleon so he couldn't be seen but he still wasn't taking any chances with his boyfriend's safety.

Draco nodded. "Okay, let's go." They walked in silence with Harry casting glances at his map every few seconds to make sure they wouldn't run into anyone when turning a corner.

They reached the classroom. Harry cast the 'Alohomora' spell and the door swung open. They entered quickly. They didn't turn on the light because that could be seen from under the crack of the door. They didn't want to rouse any suspicion. Harry dropped the cloak along with the map on the ground and backed Draco up against the wall, lips descending on his, hard. Draco's hands came to rest on his hips and he firmly pressed their hips together. Harry felt Draco's growing erection against his leg and felt his own reaction to that. They had still to go all the way but they never quite found a good spot for it. He didn't want his first time to be on a desk or the ground but he was starting to think that if they ever wanted to do it, it would have to be like that.

Draco broke the kiss to stare at him. There was a weird expression in his eyes.

"What?" Harry asked, pulling away a bit and hoping he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Nothing… I've just never known you to be so aggressive in our kissing."

"Sorry." Harry mumbled, now positively sure that he had done something wrong. He took another step back but Draco's hands on his hips prevented him from moving.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way. It's good." Draco said smiling and playfully grinding his hips against his. Harry moaned and his eyes slid closed. Draco started to press kisses on his forehead, his jaw, the side of his mouth before coming to rest on his mouth. He felt his tongue at his mouth and he opened his lips, sucking the tongue further in his mouth. His hands came to rest on Draco's shoulder and he fully surrendered to the kiss, gripping Draco's shoulder. It was amazing how one single kiss like this could totally sweep him off his feet. Draco's hands slid to his ass and squeezed, causing Harry to thrust his hips against his lover's.

He'd waited long enough. He didn't care it would be on the floor or against the wall for that matter. He just wanted Draco in him. It would be perfect no matter what. He pulled away from the kiss to share this fact with Draco.

The boy raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure about this, Harry? Because this is not the most comfortable of places."

"I don't care." Harry started as he worked on getting the upper half of Draco's clothes off, "And you know why not?" The shirt went flying. "Because I want you and I know you'll take care of me." He licked his lips at the sight of Draco's bare chest and experimentally took a nipple between his fingers, playing with it. Draco's moan encouraged him and he took the other nipple between his fingers as well, watching the blonde's expression of pleasure and deciding he really like that. He looked in Draco's eyes. They'd never been so lust filled before, they were nearly black and it sent a shiver of excitement up his spine.

Draco started to pull of his robes. He pulled the black t-shirt over his head and tossed it on the ground next to his own shirt. Then the Slytherin's cold hands were all over his chest and back, rubbing, exploring the flesh. Harry shivered, letting out a small moan. Draco's hands came to rest on his pants and Harry took a small step back so he could work on Draco's as well. Their pants dropped to the ground and both quickly toed their shoes out so they could step out of the pants. Both were now dressed in nothing else but boxers that did nothing to hide their obvious erections.

Draco smiled at him and then stepped away from the wall. He started arranging their clothes and the cloak on the floor so that they formed something to lie on. He then grabbed a book, pulled out his wand seemingly out of thin air and transformed it into a pillow.

"Sadly I can't transform a desk in a bed yet so this will have to do." He said.

Harry nodded, grinning at Draco's thoughtfulness. It was at least something. He pushed off his boxers before he laid down naked on his back, head resting on the slightly lumpy pillow. He stared up at Draco who was staring down at him, eyes wandering over his body. It sent another shiver down his spine and his erection twitched.

"Are you going to join me or just stand there?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling seductively.

"Are you really sure about this?" Draco asked as he removed his boxers.

Harry gulped at the size of the blonde's erection. That was so not going to fit. He let out a bit of a nervous chuckle at that thought and nodded determinedly.

"I'm sure." He replied, sounding so unsure that it was annoying.

Draco eyed him sceptically and seemed to consider whether he was going to go through with it. A few seconds, which seemed like minutes, later, the blonde made up his mind and straddled him.

"We'll go through with this but if you want to stop, just say so and I will, okay?" Draco asked, stroking the side of his face.

Harry couldn't believe how sweet Draco was being about this. He hadn't pegged Draco as the guy to actually be careful about things like these but Draco had a way of surprising him with stuff like this. He nodded his agreement at what he'd said but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to tell Draco to stop. They'd been together long enough and even if this wasn't the best place to make love, he was sure it would be good.

Draco leaned down and pressed his lips to his, softly. As much as Harry appreciated it, soft kisses wasn't what he wanted right now. He deepened the kiss by opening his mouth and taking Draco's lower lip between his lips, sucking before his tongue found its way between the blonde's lips. He thrust his hips up against Draco's, rubbing their erection together. They got a steady rhythm going which was soon driving him insane. He broke the kiss and tilted his head back, hands grabbing Draco's shoulders and squeezing a bit.

Draco's mouth descended on his mouth and he felt how his flesh was softly sucked into his mouth. The warm tongue ran over his slightly sweat covered skin. Harry moaned. Draco started pressing kisses down his chest, pausing at his nipples and giving them the necessary attention before moving more downwards. His tongue flicked in his belly button and then moved even lower. Harry looked down and saw how close Draco was to his hard member. It made him moan. Draco looked up at him, lust evident in his eyes. He smiled up at him before taking his dick in his mouth.

"Draco!" Harry exclaimed, shocked at the sudden surge of pleasure that ran through him. He'd never imagined that to be this good. He moaned loudly. He wasn't even aware of moaning, it just came out. Draco pumped the base and took him in as far as he could. He felt his erection hit the back of his throat and another moan escaped him.

The next thing he felt was a small sting of pain in his ass as Draco slid in one finger. Him sucking his dick was obviously a distraction and he had to admit it was working really well. The pleasure outweighed the pleasure by far and before he was even ware of it, three fingers had slid inside of him.

Harry couldn't seem to stop the moan, his eyes were shut tight. He felt the fingers leave him. He wrapped his legs around Draco's waist after a little tugging on Draco's part. Then the other boys erection slid in him. He heard Draco sigh quietly while he let out a hiss of pain. The blonde eased himself in gently, allowing him to get used to it. He adjusted to it quickly and moaned. He was dimly aware of the him begging Draco to move and heard his chuckle.

The next few minutes, he was only aware of a pleasure he had never felt before. He didn't want it to end but it soon did. He let out one last moan, simultaneously with one last moan from Draco before they both came.

Draco pulled out at once. Harry was laying with his eyes closed and not capable to move. He was aware of Draco muttering some spell and felt the stickiness on his stomach disappear.

"Are you okay?" Came the Slytherin's worried voice from somewhere above him. Harry forced himself to open his eyes and saw Draco kneeling next to him, already back in boxers. He sat up, feeling a bit of a sting in his ass and wincing. Draco seemed to notice and looked even more worried.

"I'm fine, Draco. More than fine." He said. He wanted to stay here on the ground and lie in Draco's arms but that wasn't quite possible. He reached for his underwear and slipped back in it. He sighed deeply.

"I don't want to leave."

"I don't either but we have to." His lover replied, leaning in to kiss him softly. When the kiss was over, Harry got up and searched for the clothes that were his. A few minutes later, they were dressed. Harry placed his hands on Draco's shoulders and leaned up to kiss him.

"I'll see you soon." He whispered. When he reached for the door however, Draco stopped him.

"Hey Harry…"

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say that I – I love you." He said, smiling shyly.

"I love you too." Harry answered, a huge grin breaking out across his face. Draco had never said it before and hearing it now felt damn good. They'd both felt it, of course. He knew the Slytherin loved him but he had never heard him say it, just like he had never said it before, scared of scaring Draco off. He leaned up for one last kiss and then wrapped the cloak around himself. He walked out of the classroom. He heard Draco mumble his spell and then he couldn't see his lover anymore. He saw him clearly on the map though and he decided to follow him down to make sure he was okay. He made sure to stay a few steps behind. If he listened carefully, he heard Draco's steps. They reached the dungeons.

"Good night, Harry."

Harry blushed. He heard Draco's quiet chuckle before he disappeared into his common room. He shook his head and returned to his own common room. Draco knew him too well and that was oddly comforting.

* * *

_-Points at review button- You know you want to…_


	11. Second task

**Disclaimer:** If I owned them, the seventh book would've been quite different.

**Author's note:** Sorry for the long wait. I've been busy. I had a vacation job for three weeks which was quite exhausting. I wanted to post this chapter before I leave to Spain tomorrow. I'm going with two of my best friends. It's going to be really fun! I'm going to try to kind of plan out my next chapter in my head while I'm there.  
Thanks to Sasuke-lovs-Naruto, the Muffin of Death, Xylia Luna Orion, Airlady, Talon81 and Akira-sama for taking the time to review!

**Right kind of wrong  
Second task**

The day of the second task came way too soon for Harry. It had seemed only yesterday when they'd had their first Occlumency lesson. After that day, they had practiced on an almost daily basis and Harry was making good progress. He was able to block Snape out faster and faster. Draco was better at it than him though. The only reason Draco still showed up for the lessons was because it gave them a chance to be together. Snape had been honestly surprised about the quick progress but working on something like that every day for an hour or two had that effect.

Only a couple of nights earlier had he been able to figure out the egg and only because he'd gotten the hint from Cedric to go to the prefect's bathroom. Draco had volunteered to come with him to 'keep him safe'. He knew Draco was just looking for an excuse to see him naked though. Not that he minded because it gave him the excuse to stare at Draco's perfect body. After their first time, they had made love several more times but often they didn't get the chance to make love or one of them just wanted to talk for a while. That suited Harry just fine, he didn't want their relationship to just be about sex because there was much more to their relationship than just that.

As he walked down to the lake, he couldn't help but wonder where Ron and Hermione had disappeared to. The night before when they'd been in the library, Fred and George had come to get them and they hadn't returned. He was quite worried. He couldn't help casting glances over his shoulder, expecting to see them run up to him but they didn't. Several people wished him good luck but he was too nervous to get his mouth to work. He felt dazed, almost numb and scared. He wasn't aware of the busy chatting around him or the gentle breeze or the shining sun. All he was aware of were his thoughts.

Way too soon he was up on the platform with the other three champions. None of the three looked as scared as he must look. He stuffed the Gillyweed in his mouth. The disgusting flavour took him by surprise and only holding his hand in front of his mouth prevented him from spitting it back out. He chewed and chewed with his eyes squeezed shut and expression of utter disgust on his face before he finally managed to swallow it. He felt like puking.

He opened his eyes, staring at the smooth surface of the lake, wondering if he would be able to complete this task, if he would be able to survive this task, if he would see Draco again. An imagine of the blonde saw into his mind and only then was he able to relax slightly. Harry hadn't had the chance to see Draco the other night as he'd been too busy trying to figure how to be able to stay underwater for an hour.

When Cedric, Fleur and Victor dived into the water, he realized the task had begun. He'd been too lost in thought to notice. Without a second thought, he jumped into the ice cold water. For a second he couldn't breath and wanted to go back to the surface but then he felt a weird sensation spread through him and realized he could breath again through the gills. He looked around the dark water and started swimming.

The darkness closed in on him. His lungs seemed to fail him as the Gillyweed had stopped working. The hour must be over. He desperately kicked with his legs, holding a firm grip on Ron and Gabrielle. His vision started to blur and his longs started to fill with water. An image of Draco seemed to fill his vision and he found the strength to continue. He kicked harder and finally broke the surface of the water. He coughed up some water and then drew in much needed air. Beside him Ron and Gabrielle seemed to wake from whatever trance or spell they had been put on.

"I knew you'd do it, Harry!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry smiled, although his smile was slightly shaky. The three of them swam back to the platform where Viktor, Hermione, Cedric and Cho were already being attended to. As soon as Hermione caught sight of them, she jumped up, the worry in her expression easing and a smile forming. They were helped back on the platform where blankets were wrapped around him but they didn't help many since it wasn't all that warm. Fleur came over to him.

"You saved 'er even though she was not your 'ostage." Fleur said, tears shining in her eyes. She bent down and kissed each cheek once. She then moved over to Ron and kissed his cheeks too. Harry snickered when Ron blushed bright red. Hermione on the other hand looked downright furious and seemed to have forgotten all about her own saviour who wasn't looking too pleased with the lack of attention.

The next few minutes were spent telling the champions being how many points they got and Harry was very much surprised when he got forty-five points for bravery. This put him on a shared first place with Cedric. Ron and Hermione were beaming at him and couldn't wipe a smile of his face. They were also told that the next task was to take place the 24th of June and that they would know what it was a month in advance.

His gaze drifted upwards over the crowd but he didn't immediately spot Draco and didn't get the chance to either as Madame Pompfrey started to direct the Champions and their hostages to the Hospital Wing for a check-up.

Harry walked in between Ron and Hermione who were still grinning like crazy. They seemed to be more excited about him being first than he was. Sure he was glad but he couldn't help worry about the next task although he should, not yet. It was still three months and he didn't need to try to solve any riddle just yet.

On their way to the hospital wing, Harry was congratulated by many of his fellow Gryffindor. He could only smile and nod at them as his throat seemed to have been sewn shut. He looked around and was finally able to catch a glimpse of Draco. Their eyes met briefly and a small smile appeared on the other boy's face. It was gone soon however. Then Draco and his friends disappeared in the crowd. Harry couldn't wait to see him and tell about what had happened.

"Harry, what happened down there?" Hermione asked about half way to the hospital wing. Harry started telling and before he knew it, they had reached the hospital room and were ushered inside.

Harry was able to sneak out of the common room at a quarter past eight that night. He'd finally been able to shake of Ron and Hermione who'd not left his side for one second that day, apologizing about having to leave him alone the night before. Harry couldn't figure out why on earth they would possibly have to feel guilty about it since it hadn't been there own choice but they felt guilty.

As soon as he came out of the common room, he wrapped his Invisibility cloak around himself. He was already late for his meeting with Draco as it was. Walking around without his cloak just may prove disastrous. People just couldn't stop congratulating him and while he didn't mind, it was starting to get annoying when they started to ask about what had happened. He'd lost count of the amount of times he'd had to tell it already. He realized that there most likely wouldn't be many students outside of their common rooms at this hour though. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs would most likely stay in their own common rooms, celebrating with their champions. The Ravenclaws would no doubt stay in their common room as well, asking Cho how it had been although she didn't know anything. As for the Slytherins, he couldn't figure out why they would be sneaking around the castle. But still it was safer to have the cloak on. He didn't want to risk running in a professor and getting lectured about being out while it still wasn't sure who'd put his name in the goblet.

Draco had managed to slip him a message during the day, asking to meet at eight in the classroom where they had gone after their first Occlumency lesson. It had become their favourite meeting spot since it was close to the Slytherin common room as well as to the Gryffindor common room. The time had been eight o'clock but Harry had known he wouldn't make that. He'd however been unable to inform Draco he might be later so he just hoped Draco could wait.

The hallways were mostly quiet apart from the excited chatter between the portraits.

"- was amazing. Apparently that Dumstrang boy attempted to transfigure himself into a shark-" Said the portrait of an old man who was no being visited by some other people.

Harry grinned. Even the portraits seemed to be enjoying this whole thing immensely even though they couldn't actually see it for themselves. No doubt they heard everything from the students and since they could all move in each other's portraits, it wouldn't take long before they knew the full, most likely exaggerated story.

At last he reached the classroom, twenty five minutes too late. He looked around, making sure there was no one around and then slipped in to see Draco pacing furiously with an expression on his face that Harry couldn't quite read. The classroom was like usual dimly lit with a few candles. Most of the time, the moonlight was enough to give them enough light but not all the time what with the changing moon cycle.

As soon as the door had properly opened, Draco stopped pacing. Harry first closed the door before sliding of the cloak.

"I'm sorry I'm late. Couldn't get -" His sentence was abruptly cut off as Draco kissed him. He'd barely seen the other boy move. Draco's tongue slid over his lower lip and probed his lips. Harry was quite surprised by this. He placed his hands on Draco's chest and pushed him back slightly.

"What's-" His sentence was again cut off as Draco kissed him again, this time sliding his tongue right into his mouth. He could feel Draco's hands on the waistband of his pants.

Harry needed a few seconds to process that Draco seemed determined to get him naked as soon as possible and another few seconds to realize that this wasn't normal Draco behaviour. Usually before getting to the good part, they talked a bit. Of course sometimes they'd start right away when both just needed each other but something was off this time.

This time it took him quite some strength to push Draco away so that he ended up pushing too hard, sending Draco to the floor. Harry drew in some much needed breath as the kiss had already made him run out of air. He ran a hand through his messy black hair and stared down at Draco who didn't look like he was going to get up any time soon. Draco's gaze was firmly fixed at his own lap and Harry couldn't make out his expression.

Harry raised an eyebrow and sat cross-legged next to Draco's outstretched legs. "What's wrong?"

"Why would anything be wrong?" Draco mumbled.

"Oh come on, Draco. I know you well enough to know when something's wrong."

"Perhaps you don't then."

"Where did that come from?" Harry asked, surprised. What on earth had gotten into Draco? He didn't understand this sudden weird behaviour. It just didn't make sense.

"Whenever you want to make out, we just go ahead with it. And now that I want to make out, you shove me away and say something must be wrong. Seriously, Harry, has it ever occurred to you that I sometimes just want to have sex?" Draco looked at him as he said this, his expression was surprisingly cold and a sneer was plastered on his face. It made Harry have a major flashback to the time before they were together.

"But I…" Harry trailed off, having no clue what he was actually going to say to this. He shook his head with a confused look on his face.

"Yeah, 'I' indeed. It always about you, isn't it? We do whatever you want to do."

"That's not true!" Harry replied loudly.

"It is. When we have sex, it's on your terms."

"That's bullshit, Draco and you know it!" Harry answered, glaring. Draco made it sound as if they only had sex when he wanted to. He could remember plenty of occasions where Draco had started. There was that time two weeks ago – No, he had started that by smacking Draco's ass and then having the other boy chase him through the classroom, promising to kiss him if he caught him. But there was still that time last week where Draco kissed him first. Oh no, he started that too by basically refusing to let go off Draco until the other boy kissed him. On both of those occasions, he'd known exactly where the teasing would lead to.

"Oh really? What about – "

"Okay, never mind, I get it." Harry interrupted, "But you never protested against it, did you? You wanted it as bad as I did."

"That maybe so but that still doesn't change the fact we have sex on _your_ terms."

"Fine, okay. You're right but I still know you well enough to know when something is wrong and don't go saying otherwise because we both know something is bothering you." Harry said determinedly.

Draco threw his hands up in the air, let out an annoyed sigh and rolled his eyes. "So now you're also going to say how I feel? Nothing is bothering me, apart from what I just said which doesn't seem to quite sink in or you'd stop talking and get naked already."

Harry's mouth literally dropped open at that statement. Why was Draco being such an asshole all of a sudden? This only proved to confirm his suspicion that something was wrong. Draco would never talk to him like this. Whenever they made love, Draco was incredibly sweet about it, making sure it was good for him which was why this behaviour didn't make any sense.

He was getting slightly angry too. He'd been worried about Draco before but now he was getting fed up with this behaviour. He didn't deserve to be treated like this just because his boyfriend was incapable of talking about what was on his mind. He was quite curious about how far Draco was actually going to push this.

"Okay, fine." He got up and stripped down to his underwear. He spread his arms, "There, happy now?"

Draco stared up at him, slightly surprised. He'd obviously not expected that he would strip down.

"Well?" Harry asked, crossing his arms and glaring coldly.

"Get dressed, Harry. I'm not in the mood for your games."

Harry's snort was one of pure disbelief. "Games? You're the one who just told me to shut up and get naked. Now that I am as good as naked, you accuse me of playing games?"

Draco stood up and walked over to the window, standing with his back to him. Harry got dressed again, feeling even more confused and lost than before. What on earth was the matter with Draco? His behaviour just didn't make sense and he hated not understanding things, at least not important things like this. How could they ever have a descent relationship if Draco couldn't tell what was on his mind? Draco hardly ever opened to him. The occasions that he had were very scarce. He couldn't just read Draco's mind. Draco needed to verbalize what he was feeling in order for him to be able to provide some sort of assistance with whatever the Slytherin was going through.

He decided to give it one more shot. If Draco wouldn't open up now, then he could go figure it out on his own. He walked over to the blonde and tentatively placed one hand on his back. When Draco didn't pull back –or respond– he started rubbing in small circles.

"What's going on, Draco? I want to help you but in order for me to be able to help, you must talk to me." He said, voice soothing and slightly pleading. Draco turned his head slightly, looking at him from out of the corner of his eye before turning back to stare out of the window and over the dark fields. It seemed to be a cloudy night as not many stars were visible.

Harry sighed as he got no answer whatsoever. His hand dropped to his side. "Come on, Draco! Don't be like this! I can't read your mind, you know!" he said, voice raising slightly and frustration clear in his tone.

Draco whirled around so that they were pretty much face to face. Harry instinctively put a step backwards. "You want to know what's going on? Fine, I'll tell you! You care more about that Weasel than about me!"

"Well, he's my – wait, what? What are you implying?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes. He was quite sure he wasn't going to like the answer and he was quite right.

"The people in the lake, they were the people the champions care about most, weren't they? So how come it was Weasley and not me, huh?" Draco's voice was normal but had a kind of threatening undertone which sent shivers up Harry's spine. It was kind of like hearing the growl of a wolf and knowing he could go for your throat at any moment.

"Well, he is my best friend! And it's got nothing to do with the fact that I care about him more. I care about the two of you in a different way. Ron's my best friend and I love him as a friend while you, you're my boyfriend and I love you in a different way, in a way that involves giving you my heart! Besides, it's a good thing it wasn't you! Image the questions people would ask if I had pulled you up from the lake." Harry answered, glad that he had managed to get Draco to open up. It was completely ridiculous though! It sounded damn much that Draco was implying that he might have a thing for his best friend. Ron was nothing more than that. He'd know Ron since day one, they had been friends since day one and their friendship had only grown over the years. It had their rocky periods like earlier that year but like all good friendships, theirs had survived.

"Face it, you have feelings for him!" Now Draco was being downright stupid and ridiculous!

"You're a git, you know that? How can you even _think_ such a thing."

"Well, who knows what goes in that dorm of yours! A silencing spell around your bed and it's fixed."

Now this was getting annoying. "Draco, I'm only going to say this one more time so you can either listen now or sod off if you still don't believe me. Ron is my best friend! Nothing more, nothing less!" Anger was clear in his voice now. Draco was making it sound like he was having an affair with Ron which was downright absurd!

"Keep telling yourself that, Potter."

Harry was shocked into silence by the use of his last name and the hate that seemed to shine through in Draco's voice all of a sudden. His shock made place for confusion as he stared in Draco's eyes. The hate he saw there made him cringe.

"I think it's best if we end things now."

"What?" Harry exclaimed, "You've got to be kidding! You want to break up over something as stupid as this? Bloody hell, Draco, you're not even making any sense!" And he really wasn't. It seemed as if Draco refused to listen to what he was saying and was completely absorbed with believing his own conclusions.

"I'm making perfect sense. I'd also appreciate it if you would leave me alone from now." Draco spat before he started to walk away.

"Have it your way, you git! At least now I won't have to worry about someone finding out I'm together with someone as idiotic as you! You're a spoiled git who thinks everything is always perfect and guess what, it isn't? You really are a coward, running away at the first sign of trouble." Harry yelled, realizing his reaction was only based on his anger and the sudden need to hurt Draco.

Draco turned back, "I'm not a coward!" he hissed.

"Oh, hit a nerve, have I? Well, if you weren't, you would've figured something out earlier for your little Death eater problem."

"Oh, Merlin, are we on that again? You know I can't get away… Why am I even bothering to talk to you about this? Just leave me alone!" Draco yelled and pretty much ran out before Harry could say anything else.

He turned to stare outside, not comprehending what had just happened. He tried to think back to the last time they had met which was two days ago. Everything had fine then. They'd talked, made love. Draco had told him he loved him. So what had changed in those two days that made Draco become such a jerk? It couldn't just be about Ron, he knew that much. Not even Draco would actually believe there was something going on between them. It had to be something else. He realized he would most likely never figure out what it was now that Draco requested to be left alone. He couldn't just go against his wishes. Pushing Draco to talk to him would only lead to more fights and both had quite a temper. He didn't want to end up cursing Draco or anything.

A sad sigh escaped him and all joy at having survived the second task seemed to have gone. All that was left now was confusion and pain. A single tear escaped his eye but he held himself back from crying more. What had he expected? That they would be together forever? He'd known that would never happen. The longer they'd gone out, the more attached he'd get so he should be happy about this, happy and relieved that they had ended it now instead of later which would only prove to more painful. Yet he didn't feel happy and relieved, just sad.

He picked up his cloak and left the classroom, closing the door slowly. He didn't see the shadow lurking around the corner, didn't notice the person leaving as soon as the door had closed.

The raven haired boy walked back slowly, not really wanting to go back to his common room. Ron and Hermione would most likely want to know where he'd gone and he could hardly say detention with Snape because McGonnagall had made sure that all detentions taking place today had been put on another day. Not that he really had detention with Snape. Occlumency lessons could hardly be called detention. At that a groan escaped him. He still had lessons with Draco. Brilliant.

He reached the common room and pulled of his cloak.

"Congratulations, Harry! Some of the students told me what happened." The fat lady said smiling widely.

"Thanks," Harry answered, smiling weakly and gave her the password. She swung open and he entered.

"Harry!" he heard Hermione yell. She made her way over to him.

"Where did you go? What happened? Are you alright?" she asked, eying him worriedly.

Harry opened his mouth, briefly considering telling her but then closed his mouth again and put on a cheery fake smile.

"I'm okay. Just had to get away for a while. I'm fine, really." He said. Hermione nodded but she quite seem to believe him. Ron caught sight of them and managed to escape his brothers.

"Hey, mate! Where did you go?" Ron asked, smiling oblivious to the fact that something was wrong.

Harry grinned, "Just been walking around, hearing the portraits talk about the second task. Entertaining, really."

Ron chuckled, "I can just imagine. Fred and George have been spreading quite some wrong stories."

"I don't want to know." Harry said smiling and he really didn't. Knowing what Fred and George could come up with, he really didn't want to know.

The trio moved to sit by the fire. Harry stayed there chatting with his classmates for another hour before he decided to go to bed, saying that he was exhausted. They let him go without questioning it.

As he laid down in bed, he realized it would be a depressing few days if not weeks for him now. He'd really loved Draco. How was he going to get over that?

**To be continued**

_What has gotten into Draco? You'll find out soon! Please review! I really want to know what you think, positive or negative!_


	12. The day after, pt 1

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own them.

**Author's note: **I'm so sorry for the wait! Writer's block combined with loads of school work equals nothing. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! The reviews are what's keeping me motivated to actually keep on doing this story. (although I do seem to take long to update, you can't believe the amount of times I had to start over).

**Right Kind of Wrong  
****The Day after, part 1**

That night he had trouble sleeping. He couldn't stop wondering what had happened to Draco, why had he acted like that? It just didn't make sense and the more he thought about it, the less sense it made. It frustrated him so much that staying calm seemed almost impossible. His heart was thumping wildly in his ribcage and his fists were clenched, nails digging into the tender flesh. He wanted to hit something, someone. Yet he also felt this overwhelming sadness, this feeling of loss. He felt like a part of him had gone missing and that just intensified his urge to hit something.

The snores of his fellow dorm mates were only distant sounds. The only sound he heard was the clattering of the rain against the window. He tried to focus on that. Sometimes he barely heard the rain at all while other times, like now, the rain was so loud that he feared the glass might break due to the force. He knew it was ridiculous but he always had that feeling when he heard the rain slam against the windows. Listening to the steady pounding of the rain made him calm down at least a bit. He sighed and sat up in his bed, covering his face with his hands.

He was so tired, the second task and then the fight with Draco had really exhausted him, yet sleep was the last thing on his mind right now. He got up and went to sit on the windowsill where he had sat so many times before when he'd felt bad and needed to think. Only, thinking was the last thing he wanted to be doing right now. He stared outside, saw the drops of rain hit the window. He noticed that they looked a bit like tears. Drop after drop hit the window and slid down over the smooth surface of the glass. He followed drop after drop with his eyes, watching it hit the window and watching it slide down. He could pretty much feel the drop slide down the window. He realized it was odd that he could feel that. Then a salty flavour ran into his slightly open mouth and he realized he was actually crying. A drop hit the window, a tear leaked from his eyes. Both slid down. Again and again the motion was repeated until at long last, it stopped raining and when it had stopped raining, his tears stopped falling.

He wiped away the tear stains from his cheeks and crawled back into bed. He pulled the blankets up high around himself and curled up on his side. As soon as he closed his eyes, he entered the land of dreams. His crying had drained him emotionally.

His sleep was peaceful, dream free.

" –rry." Was he dreaming or was someone calling his name? " –arry!" There it was again. The voice sounded oddly familiar but he couldn't place it. Perhaps if he opened his eyes, he would know who it was. An image of Draco swam behind his closed eyelids and when he opened his eyes, the image lingered. For a second he thought that it was Draco sitting on his bed grinning at him. But when he blinked, Draco was gone. In his place sat Ron.

"And he's awake!" Ron exclaimed, "Come on, mate, it's time to get up."

Harry nodded and sat up, rubbing his eyes and suppressing a yawn. Ron patted him on the shoulder and he felt him leave his bed. He put on his glasses. He got up and went through the routine of brushing his teeth, taking a shower and getting dressed.

When he returned from the bathroom, Ron was sitting on his bed, reading the Charms book. The other three boys had gone already. He walked back over to his own bed and dropped his pyjamas in his suitcase.

"You ready, mate?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, let's go." He said. Ron got up from his bed. Once downstairs, he was greeted by a lot of cheering from his classmates. They seemed to be still in a celebrating mood from last night.

Fred and George made their way over to him. "Hiya, Harry! How do you like our banner?" Fred asked, grinning widely.

A huge banner had been hung from one side of the room to the other side of the room. The background was a deep red. On the left side, he saw his own face stare back at him. The rest of the banner was filled with gold letters which spelt 'Harry for Champion.' When he took a closer look, he noticed the dot on the I was actually a small golden snitch. He could see its wings flutter.

"It's great." He managed to say with a genuine smile.

"We figured it would brighten up the room." George explained, smiling.

Harry and Ron laughed. "It sure does."

"Harry, Ron!" They heard a female voice call. Seconds later they were also joined by Hermione. "Let's go have breakfast."

Ron and Harry nodded and left Fred and George in the common room, the twins had already eaten. As they walked down, Harry got many more congratulations from students but also from the portraits and even the ghosts. The only people who didn't seem so happy that he was in first place were the Slytherins. They insulted him at every chance they got but Harry had gotten used to it. And as long as he had his friends beside him, he didn't care.

The only one missing was Draco. He wanted his support so badly but the Slytherin had made it clear he didn't want to see him anymore. While last night, he had felt devastated, now he felt nothing. When he thought of Draco, he felt nothing but a small sting in his heart and even that wasn't hard enough to make him care. It seemed that overnight, his feelings for Draco had gone and he was glad for that. A small voice was telling him that they were in fact not gone and that he was just refusing to feel the pain but he chose to ignore that voice. He felt perfectly fine like this and he wanted it to stay that way too.

The trio walked in the Great Hall where he was greeted with more cheering and shouting, mostly from the Gryffindors, and booing, mostly from the Slytherins and a few Hufflepuffs. He sat down at the long table with Ron and Hermione on either side of them. He was sitting with his back to the Slytherin table which was a good thing. That way he wouldn't have to look at Draco, that way he couldn't give Draco the impression he still cared. And why was he still thinking of Draco as Draco? It was Malfoy again. Yes, Malfoy.

He felt oddly cheery when he grabbed a slice of toast. Life was good, indeed it was.

"What do we start with today?" he asked.

"Potions." Hermione answered automatically while Ron groaned, "I can't believe you still don't know what we have on Friday."

Harry chuckled, "It's not just Friday I don't know."

Ron laughed, "Well put, mate!"

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Hermione purse her lips. He grinned. Knowing his timetable by heart was something he never could. He didn't know why he couldn't remember it. He supposed it had something to do with the fact that Hermione always knew everything. Besides, he had much more useful stuff than that to remember.

Breakfast passed quickly enough and soon the trio was headed back towards their common room. Outside of the Great Hall, they had passed Malfoy and his cronies. Malfoy had shouted an insult at him and he's just ignored it. Malfoy wasn't worthy of his attention, retorting was a waste of breath.

"Harry, are you alright?" His brown and bushy haired friend asked.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" he asked, turning to look at her with his eyebrows raised.

"Well," she hesitated briefly, "Malfoy just insulted your parents and you didn't even answer. You just grinned and kept walking."

"And that automatically means something's wrong?"

"Well, no …" Hermione answered, "But you were kind of acting weird last night as well."

"I'm fine, Hermione." He said smiling at her. He noticed the concern in her warm brown eyes. He really loved her as a friend. She cared so much for him, did so much for him and he realized he hadn't always been as grateful as he should've been. He would have to change, he would have to start showing more how he appreciated her and her help.

About ten minutes later, they were standing outside of Snape's classroom. The Gryffindors were chatting together, as were the Slytherins. No insults were made which was weird but not unwelcome.

When the door opened, the students entered the classroom, all taking their usual places.

Snape stood behind his desk, surveying the class. His expression didn't betray anything until they landed on Harry. The loathing became clear in those black eyes and Harry quite shared that feeling.

"As you all know," Snape drawled, eyes lingering on Harry for a bit longer before he turned to watch the rest of the class, "Potter here has won the second task yesterday but -"

Some of the Gryffindors had started cheering, cutting Snape off. They were silenced by a withering glare from the Potions professor.

"But," he continued, "That doesn't mean that I want any cheering in my class. I do not want to hear a word about yesterday. I want you all to work. Is that understood?"

"Yes, professor." Everyone echoed. Snape watched all of them again and then nodded curtly. He sat down and flicked his wand. Instantly, the subject of that lesson appeared on the black board along with the page of their book. They all hurried to get the right page.

"Start reading and summarize." Snape ordered. It was quite cold in the class room which was not very surprising. It was always cold in the dungeons and now even more so with the quite cold weather outside. He couldn't stop a slight shiver from breaking out.

Harry prayed that the lesson would be over soon but they were only halfway. He couldn't focus on what he was reading and summarizing anymore. He kept glazing covertly at Malfoy who was sitting in the front row. He couldn't help it. The blond kept drawing his attention. He caught every movement Malfoy made and it was starting to annoy him a lot. Why did Malfoy have to move all the time? Couldn't he just sit still? He had to stop himself from shouting at the other boy. Somewhere he realized that Malfoy couldn't help the fact that he shifted in his seat every once in a while and that it wasn't his fault that he had to scratch when he had an itch but it still annoyed him.

He firmly focused his attention on the book and fervently started reading. _Some of its side effects include nausea -_ Malfoy shifted in his seat – _the inexplicable urge to hit someone_ – He ran a hand through his hair – _and headaches afterwards._

Harry gave up on reading and instead focused on summarizing what he had read so far which was going slightly better than trying to read.

He was very glad when Snape told them that they could stop and pack their stuff.

"Potter, Draco, a word." He said, looking first at Malfoy and then at him. Harry was pretty sure that he knew what this was going to be about.

"We'll wait outside." Hermione said. He nodded, grabbed his stuff and walked over to the desk. Malfoy stood beside him but he pointedly ignored him. Everyone slowly left and the last student closed the door. Snape watched them with what only could be described as an expression of interest. It had no doubt something to do with the fact that they were both standing a fair distance from each other and that they refused to look at each other.

"Occlumency lesson, tonight. 8 pm." Snape said, his voice surprisingly more soft than before. Harry didn't get him. One moment Snape seemed to hate him, the next he was practically friends. They both nodded and left the class room, together but without exchanging a word and even without as much as acknowledging they were walking next to each other.

Ron and Hermione were waiting outside, as were Crabbe and Goyle. Harry joined his friends and together they walked to the next lesson. Harry couldn't help feeling faintly nervous for that night's lesson. Not about having to face Malfoy because he didn't care but about Snape seeing what had gone down last night. That would be humiliating.

_Author's note: I had intended for this to be longer but I also wanted to give you guys an update before it takes me another two months to update. Hope you enjoyed it and I promise the next chapter will have a bit more drama. Also, Harry's quite in denial, isn't he?  
Review! -points at review button-_


	13. The day after, pt 2

**Disclaimer:** Well, you know the drill, I don't own them! 

**Author's note:** Wow, an update. Yeah, I'm amazed with myself, how bad is that? I'm starting to seriously dislike school, so much work. Anyway, thanks to the people who have reviewed and thanks to everyone who's still sticking with this story although it takes insanely long before I update. I can't wait until the Christmas Holidays!Also, a cookie to who spots one sentence of a song. I didn't do it on purpose but it just slipped in. I'll give you a hint: Timbaland.

**Right Kind of Wrong  
The day after part 2**

Harry went to the toilet for the tenth time in as many minutes. He was more nervous about the Occlumency lesson than he should be. While he'd been in a good mood all day, it was now slowly fading away as he realized he was going to have to be alone in a room with not only Draco but Snape as well. He started to wish he was good at Occlumency so that Snape couldn't see what had happened. That was really the last thing he needed right now. Either Snape would be furious with _him_ or he'd try to work things out. The first option seemed a lot more likely. Leave it to Snape to turn it around so that it was his fault, rather than Draco's.

He sighed and returned to his friends. "Harry, mate, what on earth is going on with you? You've been acting awfully happy all day and now you just seem extremely nervous and agitated."

"I'm fine," he muttered, falling down on the couch in between Ron and Hermione. They'd been trying to get him to tell what was wrong but he refused to tell. Sometimes he wanted to but then he realized how stupid it would be if he did. For one, Ron would go beat Malfoy to a bloody pulp which would get his best friend into trouble and he didn't want that. And second, the less people knew about it, the better.

"Oh, come on, Harry. We can tell _something_ is going on with you. Why can't you just tell us?"

"There's nothing to tell!" Harry was getting sick of having to repeat that. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? They should know that if he wanted to talk about it, he would.

A few minutes later, he left for Snape's dungeon, leaving his friends slightly agitated and frustrated by his lack of response. He stuffed his Invisibility cloak under his shirt. He'd decided to bring it along, just in case.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and slowly, very slowly walked through the castle. He was seriously considering not going. Why did they need the Occlumency lessons anyway? It was not as if anyone would find out now. Not now that there was nothing left to find out. Sure, there were still the memories but no one would suspect they'd been a couple, right? They were enemies, no one would think twice about it. He would go down to Snape's office and tell him he didn't need the lessons anymore. He nodded to himself. That's what he would do.

Due to his very slow pace, he arrived five minutes later. Malfoy glared coldly at him and he immediately returned the glare. Snape was sneering and a sneering Snape was never good.

"Potter, you're late," his teacher drawled.

"I know but it's not like it matters. I came down here to say that I won't be needing the lessons anymore."

"Potter, have you lost your mind? You will encounter the Dark Lord again, don't doubt that because he will be back and if he uses Legilimency on you, he will know about your relationship with Draco, he will see I've tried to help hide it. He'll kill us both."

"Oh, don't worry, I won't give him a chance to read my mind." Harry shot back, crossing his arms and glaring at the two people in front of him. At the moment, he didn't really care about any of that. He just knew he didn't want to be here right now. He didn't want to deal with this. He'd been fine suppressing things all day and last thing he needed was reliving the good memories and the bad memories. He didn't need that right now. Not when he still had to worry about the Triwizard tournament. He knew it was still far away but he had to pay attention in classes, everything the teachers said, could help him with the next task. He couldn't afford to get sidetracked now.

"You're foolish, Potter." Snape hissed, stepping from behind his desk and gliding towards him until he was only a foot away. Harry could see the expression in those pitch black eyes change from coldness to utter disgust. Harry didn't break eye contact, he glared right back. Snape smirked.

Memories started to flash in front of his eyes. He got so wrapped in them that the memories seemed to become reality. He heard nothing, the office had vanished. The only thing that existed where the quickly changing memories. … that night in the forest where they'd had an honest conversation … them kissing … the fight of a mere day ago … Ron and Hermione asking him what was wrong … again the fight. He tried desperately to hold on to that memory, wanting to see if he could figure out what had driven Draco to his decision this time. But before he could do something, Snape had pulled out of his head.

Harry stumbled back, feeling weak, feeling sad all over again. The coldness of the office pressed down on him like a ton of bricks and he had to get out so he did. He didn't really see where he was running, he just had to get away. He reached the heavy wooden entrance doors, opened them a bit and slid outside; breathing in the fresh air.

It was cold and he shivered. He realized his heart was beating wildly and that tears had somehow started to run over his cheeks. He hoped he hadn't started crying in Snape's office. That would've been just embarrassing. He managed to calm his racing heart down but he couldn't stop the tears just yet. This had brought back a great deal of bad memories. He'd been able to ignore them all day but now the pain hit him all at once.

Perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad if he knew why Draco had acted the way he did because he hadn't made any sense at all. It really was much harder not knowing. He wanted to know, needed to know. He'd pretty much given Draco his heart and the blonde had ripped it out and stomped on it. He didn't buy for a second that Draco had no feelings for him anymore, it was impossible. Perhaps it was naïve for him to think that, perhaps he should just have to face the facts that Draco really didn't want him anymore but in the past months that they had been together, he'd gotten to know Draco and something didn't feel right.

He took a few more deep breaths, feeling the cold air rush through him. He wiped away the tear tracks and walked back inside. It was almost a miracle that he didn't get caught. Since he didn't want to push his luck, he headed back as quickly as he could.

For a minute; he was lost in his own thoughts but then something caught his attention. He slowed his pace a bit and listened carefully. The noise seemed to slow down. It took him a few seconds to realize that he was being followed.

He decided to pretend not to notice so that whoever was following him wouldn't be warned. Shit, he shouldn't have left like that. His hand slid to his wand which was sticking in the side of his pants. His heart had started beating wildly again. He'd pretty much forgotten someone was still out to get him. He wasn't even safe in the castle, how much worse could it get? Well, a lot worse obviously. He could still hear the footsteps. Why didn't the person act though? He was alone, there weren't many portraits.

He sped up his pace and rounded a corner. He decided he wouldn't wait until the person caught up with him. He turned back. He could hear the footsteps approaching. He drew his wand and without thinking twice jumped back in the corridor he'd just left. His eyebrow rose when he saw there was no one there. But he was sure he had heard footsteps. Perhaps he was just imagining things. He sighed and tiredly rubbed his eyes. Great, now he was going mental too. He put away his wand and resumed his journey to the common room.

It was only thirty seconds later that he heard the footsteps again. There was no way in hell he was imagining this. He whirled around again. Still no one Yet if someone was following him, he should see the person. There was no place to hide. If someone was indeed following him, that person must be invisible. But not many people could do that. Only if they had an Invisibility cloak or –

His cloak! He patted his stomach but the soft material was no longer there. He must've dropped it. That would explain that. He took out his wand again, ready to shout a spell if the cloak was in the hands of a foe.

"I know you're there, I know you have my cloak." He said, keeping his wand pointed.

Blonde hair popped up first and then the rest of Malfoy's body appeared. Harry tried not to show his obvious shock.

"Malfoy," he acknowledged the other boy coolly, "Mind telling me what you were doing following me with _my_ cloak?"

"Will you please lower your wand? It's not as if I'm going to attack you." Malfoy said as he folded up the cloak and tossed it at him.

Harry caught it and in the process lowered his wand. Some hexes sprung to mind but he decided he wouldn't curse Malfoy just yet. First he would hear what the other boy had to say. If Malfoy hadn't followed him to attack him, then why? Malfoy didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore, he said so and now he was following him around? It just didn't make sense.

"You haven't answered my question."

"Why I was following you around?" Malfoy repeated, leaning casually against the closest wall. Harry had the feeling Draco was stalling.

"Yeah, that one."

"Severus told me it wasn't save for you to travel the castle alone. He saw you dropped your cloak so he told me to follow you to make sure you were okay." Malfoy replied eventually.

Harry's eyebrow rose again. "Since when does that git care about me?"

"Don't call him a git!" Malfoy hissed.

Harry smirked his Malfoy-like smirk and titled his head to the side a bit. "I'll call him whatever I like. Well, you can go back now."

"No, I can't." Malfoy said, gritting his teeth, "I was to follow you to the common room."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I think I can walk the remaining distance by myself and I've got the cloak now too." Harry started to swing it around himself but suddenly, Malfoy was right in front of him, grasping his arm and thus preventing him from putting on the cloak. Harry glared daggers at him.

"I know I hurt you-"

"I don't want to hear it." Harry hissed , pulling his arm free but making no further attempt to put on the cloak. Okay, so perhaps he did want to hear what Malfoy was about to say. Looking in those beautiful eyes still made him melt, still made him want to kiss the other boy. He hated himself for still wanting Malfoy but that was exactly the way it was.

"I know I hurt you," Malfoy started again, "But trust me when I say this is better for you."

"Oh, so you hurt me for my own sake?" Harry said loudly, sounding close to hysterics, "Oh yeah, makes total sense." His voice was dripping with sarcasm now.

Malfoy smiled a bit. "I still love you but … Just trust me when I say it's for your own good."

Harry rose an eyebrow. Malfoy sighed and continued, "I'm sorry about the things I said yesterday. I didn't mean them, I just wanted you to hate me. A part of me wants to be selfish and just beg you to forgive me but another part is telling me it's for the best, for the both of us."

Harry glared, "Let me get this straight? You wanted me to hate you which is ultimately better for us both? Well, the way that usually works is that you don't come back on your words and that you don't apologize! That just defeats the purpose!" He exclaimed, throwing up his hands in frustration.

"Don't you think I know that? But I want to be with you!"

"Oh, shut up before I hex you! You cannot go around being rude to a person and then expect him, well me, to forgive you! It doesn't work that way! I can't keep doing this with you!" Harry yelled and he just couldn't anymore. They would fight, sometimes break up, make up and start all over again. Enough was enough. He couldn't deal with this anymore, he just couldn't!

"I know but it will be different now."

"Will you bloody listen to yourself?" Harry shouted, "Do you even know what you want? You want me to hate you and then you come crawling back! That's not how it bloody works! Either you want me to hate you or you want to be with me but you can't have both!"

"Yeah, you're right! I don't know what I want!" Draco yelled, "But place yourself in my shoes for a moment. I'm supposed to become a Death Eater, I'm supposed to fight you in a few years! My mind is telling me that I should just break it off now before it gets any harder but my heart says I shouldn't. What would you do?"

"I would think about it first before I acted, you git!" Harry shouted right back. He realized they were shouting at each other again. Why couldn't they have a normal discussion about stuff like this? It somehow always ended up in shouting.

"I thought about it," Draco mumbled defensively, "And then changed my mind."

"Well, that's not how it works! You stick with one plan! You know what? I'll make the decision for you. We're over, for good! You're right, this had to end and as much as this is hurting me, I can't do this anymore." Harry said now defeated. A part of him wanted to take Draco back but he knew that in a few days they'd be back at the same spot as now: shouting at each other. The decision had to be made and it had to be made now. Well, he had and no matter how much it tore him apart, he would stick with it, unlike Malfoy.

"I'm sorry, just -"

"No, it's too late to apologize," Harry cut in, voice nearly cracking, "You're right, Draco. The longer we drag this out, the more it's going to hurt us in the end."

Draco nodded sadly. "I know we're making the right decision but…"

"It sucks." Harry said. Draco nodded and took a step closer. Harry know what he was going to do but he didn't even want to pull away. Draco reached out, cupping his cheek and then pressed their lips together. Harry's moved against Draco's oh so familiar ones. Harry wrapped his arms around Draco's neck and melted against the other boy's body. Draco's free arm went around his waist, holding him tightly, almost desperately. The kiss was sweet and loving and seemed to last forever which Harry wouldn't have minded. He was the first to break the kiss.

Draco stepped back and smiled sadly. "I guess this is it."

Harry nodded his agreement and swallowed to get rid of the lump in his throat. He took his forgotten coat and pulled it around himself. He disappeared quickly. So that was what a good goodbye kiss felt like.

Neither of them had noticed the Ravenclaw Prefect standing in a corridor nearby. The boy had overheard every single word and couldn't wait to tell everyone. This was just too good to pass up.

_Author's note: Oh, they're in trouble now. Hehe. I wonder what will happen (Well, I actually more or less know what will happen). Well, do review! Shout at me for taking so long, tell me what you thought …Anything ___


	14. Secrets discovered

**Disclaimer:** Why yes, of course I own them! 

**Author's note:** Finally! Yes, yes, I know. It's taking me too long to update. School's crazy! But enough of that, enjoy!

**Right Kind of Wrong  
Secrets discovered**

Harry loved Saturdays because it was the beginning of the weekend. He could just stay in bed and sleep until ten, he could do whatever he wanted, could stay up later and could just relax. He knew though that relaxing wasn't really an option. Their workload was heavy and he couldn't afford to not do his homework.

It was that depressing thought that made him get up at nine-thirty. He was slightly surprised that Ron's bed was empty and upon looking around, noticed that the other boys had gotten up as well. He raised an eyebrow. They hardly got up early. The only one who could do without a lot of sleep was Seamus.

Five minutes later, he was ready and descended the stairs to the common room. Conversations stopped abruptly and a lot of people, including his friends, turned to look at him with a weird expression on their face. He slowed his pace and stopped walking altogether when he was at the bottom of the stairs. He was about to open his mouth to ask what on earth was going on when Hermione and Ron ran forward and pretty much dragged him back up the stairs to the dorms. Hermione magically shut the door with a spell the boys had never even heard of.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, slightly worried now as he crossed his arms. Hermione and Ron exchanged a look and looked down at the ground as they spoke.

"There's a rumour going around the school about you."

Harry laughed relieved. He'd be more shocked if there hadn't been a rumour about him. It would probably be something stupid again, like it always was. Something that made absolutely no sense and that would just die out in one day. His laugh died out quickly too. Hermione and Ron were still not looking at him and were fidgeting nervously. Now he was worried again, more than worried.

"What is it?"

Hermione looked up at him, her expression unreadable. "One of the Ravenclaw prefects was patrolling the corridors last night and he overheard something."

Harry paled considerably. No. It couldn't be, could it? Yet he knew it was. "W-what did he hear?"

"He heard you and Malfoy arguing and he saw the two of you … kiss." Ron answered, now looking up at him too. "Please tell us he's lying, Harry. It wouldn't be the first time that someone has made something up about you."

Harry sank down on the nearby bed. Everyone knew about him and Malfoy. Fear settled on him and panic made itself master of him. His thoughts were racing but he couldn't bring himself to string together one coherent sentence. They knew … They all knew. Draco's father would find out … He didn't even want to think about the consequences. He knew they were doomed. Even if they managed to deny the whole thing, laugh it off and even if everyone would believe them, then it would still be too late. The rumour would've made it outside of the castle walls. His only concern was for Draco right now. He could only imagine how the Slytherins would respond to this.

Hermione sat down next to him while Ron remained standing frozen on his spot. "It's true?" she asked.

Harry could only nod. He couldn't lie to his friends any longer. He'd lied to them long enough.

"Since when?" He could hear the shock and disappointment in her voice. He knew he'd hurt her by not telling her but it had been the right thing to do. They had just ended it, no one was supposed to find out.

"Couple of months, beginning of the school year. We've been meeting up all over the school, sometimes a lot, sometimes just once every two weeks. It always depended."

"Why?" Ron managed to bring out. Harry looked up at his friend and he could feel tears well up in his eyes.

"Because I love him. I don't know when it happened or how but one day, I knew I did and he felt the same." Harry smiled softly, thinking back to that night in the forest where Draco had kissed him. He shook his head to rid himself from the thought, that was not helping him any at the moment.

"So, the Occlumency lessons…"

"No, they were real. We knew our relationship was a dangerous one, which is why I didn't say anything. We were afraid that if Lucius or Voldemort used Legilimency, that they would find out about us. That would've gotten Draco in a lot of trouble. So we figured that the less people knew, the safer everyone would be. We went to Snape for help." Harry explained, looking at his lap again.

Hermione let out a small sigh, "I get why you couldn't tell us. I hate being right though. I've been suspecting something changed between you two for a while now. I'd just hoped that it wouldn't be what I thought it was."

Harry jumped up from the bed and glared down at his friend. "So you're against gays? Is that it! I can't believe you, Hermione!" he yelled.

Hermione looked taken aback by his outburst and rushed to reassure him. "No, Harry. I don't care that you're gay. I just don't like your choice in partner."

Harry ran a hand through his hair. He needed to stop being so defensive. "Sorry. But Draco is not who you think he is. Over the past few months, I've gotten to know him pretty well. He's just a teenager like us, being forced into something he doesn't want. I'm not denying he's a git because he actually is but he's not the cold guy who he appears to be. He doesn't have a choice."

"People always have a choice, Harry."

"I wish I could believe that, Hermione but he doesn't. The only place he'd be safe is far away from here and trust me, the thought of running away with him has crossed my mind but we both know we can't. I'm needed here, he knows that. He's too scared to run, too scared that he'll just be tracked down and punished. He's not even safe within these walls. And soon, he'll be a Death Eater, fighting against me."

"What about going to Dumbledore?"

Harry shook his head, "We've gone over that. Hiding Draco … It'll never work. His father won't rest before he finds him and neither of us were prepared to see the people we love get hurt in that search."

"So the argument last night, you both decided to end it once and for all."

Harry laughed bitterly, "Yeah. We've fought so many times in the past, we've hurt each other so many times that we've both lost count. Our love for each other isn't enough and it never will be, unless Draco finds away to leave his world."

When he looked up at Hermione, he noticed she looked genuinely sorry for him and he appreciated that. He appreciated that she wasn't disgusted with him and that she understood. Ron's silence was worrying though so he looked at Ron, who was staring at him with an expression in his eyes that could only be described as anger.

"Ron?" he asked uncertainly.

"I need to get out of here, now!"

"Ron-"

"Hermione, undo the spell," Ron yelled. Hermione complied, looking a bit mortified at the sudden explosion. Ron stormed out before she could speak.

Harry dropped his head in his hands, feeling his heart break into more pieces. First losing Draco, then losing Ron. He didn't think he could handle much more. He felt like his life was slipping out of his control. He didn't know whether he should be more worried about the fact that he might lose his best friend or the fact that everyone knew about him and Draco.

"He'll come around, Harry." Hermione said, rubbing his back in soothing circles. "Give him some time to deal with this. If you ask me, he's more hurt that you didn't confide in him than angry."

Harry swallowed past the lump in his throat and looked at Hermione. "Thanks for not freaking out on me. I guess it's time to face everyone."

"What are you going to say?"

"Deny it. We'll have to go for some damage control here, the sooner the better."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "I'll help you."

The two of them headed downstairs, Harry desperately looking for Ron who, according to Ginny had stormed out as if he was on a mission. Several people came up to him to ask if it was true and he denied it, laughing it off, saying it was just another stupid thing to create rumours about him. Hermione put on a convincing roll as well and it seemed that most of the Gryffindors believed him, rather than the Ravenclaw prefect. Some remained sceptical about the whole thing, not believing his denial but not believing the Ravenclaw prefect either.

Together with Hermione, he left the common room to go eat lunch. Harry had decided to skip breakfast in order to convince his housemates that they should believe him but now he was quite hungry. Ron hadn't returned either which concerned Harry. He just hoped his friend wouldn't do something impulsive like corner Draco and shout at him. Last thing they needed was his best friend acting as if he believed the rumours. That would just lead everyone to believe that they had been dating.

On their way to the Great Hall, they passed loads of groups of whispering students, all looking at him. Harry ignored it and just chatted with Hermione. Acting normal was the best thing to do. A few people came up to him, asked if it was true and he denied it every time. The Ravenclaws didn't appreciate it though that he called their prefect a liar but Harry couldn't bring to care about how the Ravenclaws felt about him. All he knew was that he needed to get this thing under control.

"Hey, Potter!" It was Draco. Time to put on an act.

He turned around, crossed his arms and watched Draco and his trusted followers approach. He seemed to have been able to convince them about the fact that it was lie as well. Harry felt relieved. Perhaps this wouldn't get so bad as he had first thought.

"What do you want?" he asked. People who were in the neighbourhood had stopped the watch them.

Draco looked around and smirked. "I can assure all of you that there's nothing going on between Potter and I. Whoever came up with this, is lying through his teeth. The mere thought of Potter and I in a relationship makes me want to vomit."

"For once in my life, I have to agree that the thought of us makes me want to throw up and slit my wrists." Harry said, glaring coldly. All people had gone quiet and he could see doubt in everyone's eyes, including those of the Ravenclaws.

"Robert would never lie," One Ravenclaw piped up. Draco turned to the girl and smiled coldly.

"Let me get this straight, Potter and I both deny any relationship. If that isn't enough, we've been enemies since the day we met. Yet you choose to believe your friend. I don't know what he heard or what he thought he heard since I was nowhere near that corridor but I strongly suggest he gets himself checked out in the hospital wing." His tone was cool, eyes cold, his stance more than a little intimidating. He sounded believable, there was no reason to not believe Draco's words for the truth. Harry thanked Merlin for the fact that Draco was so good at being a git. It was most likely going to save them.

The girl was about to reply something when they heard a loud roar come from a nearby corridor. It made Harry's blood run cold. That was definitely Ron. Robert stumbled into the big entry hall, followed by a more than furious Ron.

"Look, you little shit, I do not appreciate people spreading around lies about my friends. As if Harry would ever have a relationship with that git if he was actually gay that is. I don't know now where you got the nerve to spread around a rumour like this but you better tell everyone you've been lying." Ron yelled, his entire face red. Robert backed up. Everyone already in the hall stood frozen once more.

"I saw them kiss."

"That's rubbish!" Harry and Draco exclaimed at the same time. Robert turned around, only now noticing the group of people.

"I'm not lying!"

"The hell you aren't!" Ron yelled as he grabbed the front of Robert's robes. "Don't you think that I, as Harry's best friend, would know when he's dating someone? Even if it was Malfoy? You see, friends tell each other this kind of stuff."

Harry was more than a little surprised that Ron was coming to his aid but realized now that he might've misinterpreted Ron's behaviour early.

"Ron," Harry yelled, "Leave him alone. I'm sure everyone knows by now that he's lying." He felt guilty that he was making Robert out to be a liar but he didn't have a choice. He was doing this for Draco's sake and while he knew that Draco no longer deserved his protection, he would not stand by and have this news spread further.

Ron let go of Robert and walked over to them, winking at Harry so that no one else could see. People started to leave now that the scene was over. Robert disappeared quietly, followed by some of his Ravenclaw friends who believed him. Draco brushed past him and went into the Great Hall, not looking at him. They were the only three remaining in the hallway.

"So you're not mad at me?" Harry asked his best friend who looked dumbfounded.

"Why would I be mad at you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered the words 'oblivious' and 'tactless' under her breath. Ron blushed slightly as he got what she meant.

"The storming out? You know I can be impulsive. I wasn't mad at you but at the Ravenclaw prefect for getting that out."

"Ron, as much as I appreciate the help, you just made him out to be a big liar."

"I know and I'm sorry for that but I don't think we had any other options here," Ron said, smiling tightly. Hermione nodded her agreement.

"I feel bad for him too, Harry but we've got to think about you and Malfoy now." She said, "Come on, let's go eat."

To Harry's big surprise, the day passed considerably quiet. He'd spent most of the day in his common room anyway and everyone there believed that he never had had a thing with Draco. He was still slightly worried about Draco though. He had a bad feeling about this whole thing. If there was one person in Slytherin who didn't believe Draco, then that person could leak the entire thing to their parents and with a bit of bad luck, said parents could be Death Eaters. He fidgeted nervously in his seat.

"Are you worried about him?" Hermione asked under her breath as she briefly looked up from her Potions essay. That girl was too perceptive for her own good.

Harry nodded. "A bit," he whispered back. The three friends were sitting on the couches in front of the fires, doing some homework. It was way past dinner and it was already dark outside. The moon shone brightly through the windows and even from inside, they could see the many stars that graced the night's sky. It was a pretty clear night and Harry longed to be outside with Draco, watching the stars like they had many times before. He felt a stab of pain in his heart and smiled sadly.

Somehow, he was relieved that it was over though. That way they could focus on getting back to hating each other and then the love wouldn't keep getting in the way. He realized though that his love for Draco would never go away.

Just as he was about to focus back on his essay in the quietness of the common room, he heard a lot of noise outside. It sounded like a girl screaming but they couldn't hear it from here. Whispering broke out across the common room and many people looked up from their homework to shoot each other curious glances. A fifth year Gryffindor closest to the portrait hole went to check it out. He came back a second later.

"Potter, some Slytherin chick needs to see you."

Harry exchanged a look of horror with his two best friends. His feeling of unease grew and with Ron and Hermione following him, he rushed out. Outside was Pansy Parkinson. She looked hysterical.

"Potter, he's gone!" She screamed.

"Who?" Harry demanded urgently.

"Draco! His father came to get him!" She said, now looking positively close to tears. Harry paled completely. His worst fear had come true. Lucius had Draco. The rumour had gotten out.

_Author's note: Hehe, major cliffhanger! Lucius has got Draco … That can't be good!_


	15. The plan

**Disclaimer**: sighs

**Author's note:** Why, yes, it is a quick update! Be all very shocked!

**Right Kind of Wrong  
The plan**

"When?" Harry asked desperately. His heart was racing and he was afraid he might faint due to lack of oxygen. He was panicking completely. This was horrible.

"A few minutes ago. Snape came to get Draco. I followed them and I saw Lucius. He took him. I came here first. You're the only one who can do something."

"What exactly do you suggest I do?" Harry yelled. How could he possibly make this right?

"You're the one who always knows what to do, you're always the hero. You have to do something!" Pansy said. A tear fell from her eyes.

Harry took off his glasses and ran a hand over his face. This could not be happening. This could really not be happening. How could he possibly save Draco? He knew he had to do something though. If not … He didn't want to quite think about it. Draco had always told him that he would be punished if his father found out. He really did not want to be having images of a bleeding Draco now but he couldn't stop it. In his mind's eye, he saw Draco, bleeding and alone in a dark cell in the dungeons of Malfoy mansion. He could practically see the expression of fear and despair in his eyes. He could practically see Draco think that no one would come for him, that he would die alone in a cell. His heart ached but at the same time, determination shot through him. He was going to save Draco from Lucius. If he had to do it alone, he would. He straightened up and looked at Pansy.

"I will save him."

"Harry!" Both Ron and Hermione exclaimed.

"What exactly are you planning on doing?" Hermione asked, "Go to Malfoy mansion and barge in like a mad man?"

"If I have to, yes but first, we're going to talk to Dumbledore. Are you with me or not?" Harry asked, turning to his friends. As long as he kept thinking of a plan, he would not think of Draco.

His two friends nodded and together with them and Pansy, he headed to Dumbledore's office. They came to a stop in front of the gargoyle. Harry realized he didn't know the password but it could not be that difficult.

"Jelly slugs, Acid pops, blood pops, Bertie Botts every flavour beans, Cockroach clusters, Cho-" He stopped talking as the gargoyle sprung to life. The four of them headed upstairs. Harry knocked on the door and entered as soon as he heard Dumbledore's voice.

"What brings three Gryffindors and a Slytherin to my office at this hour?" Dumbledore asked, obviously interested. He leaned his elbows on the desk and folded his hands, resting his chin on them and watching them over his glasses.

"It's about Draco. His father took him." Harry answered.

"I'm well aware of that, Harry. It seems there was some kind of family emergency and mr. Malfoy was needed at home at once. I could hardly say no."

"Family emergency, my ass!" Harry replied, voice a little louder than necessary. "Lucius heard about the rumours about me and Draco and pulled him out of school because of that. He will torture Draco! We need to save him."

"Ah, so the rumours were true. I must say, Harry, I'm not at all surprised."

Harry didn't even bother asking Dumbledore how he knew.

"We need to save him!"

"Dear boy, I'm afraid that there's nothing we can do at this moment. For all we know, there could be a family emergency and we really don't want to barge in on that."

Harry rested his hands on the desk and leaned towards Dumbledore. He felt a bit too brave for his own good but he was still worried sick. "I can assure you, sir, that there is no family emergency. I know there isn't, Pansy knows there isn't."

"Your hunches are usually spot on, Harry but there really is nothing we can do."

"Fine! We'll just way until the Daily Prophet announces his death!" With that Harry stormed out and his friends and Pansy followed. Hermione looked worried and glared at him as soon as the opening to the office closed.

"Don't start with me, Hermione!" Harry warned and the girl abruptly closed her mouth.

"What do we do now?" Pansy asked.

"We go to Snape. As much as I hate it, that git might just be our only hope."

The four of them ran to Snape's office. Every second wasted was a second too much for Harry. He barged in without knocking.

"Potter. Ever heard of knocking?" Snape asked, looking up from an essay he was correcting. Harry glared and knocked on the already open door.

"How could you let Lucius take him?" he yelled. "You knew damn well what was at stake! And you let him take him!"

Snape stood up and crossed the room to stand right in front of him, glaring. "I know what is at stake, Potter but I could hardly interfere. Lucius told me there was a family emergency. Who am I to hold Draco here? Before you say anything, I know there isn't. I know what's going to happen to Draco but I am going to get him out of there."

"Oh yeah, you're working really hard on a plan," Harry yelled sarcastically.

"Potter, calm down before I take points. I knew it would only be a matter of time before you would come to me. I must say I'm very pleased that you have brought reinforcements. Breaking into Malfoy Mansion is not a job for two people."

"Professor, we can't do this."

"Miss Granger, do you want to know what will happen to Draco if we leave him there? I'll tell you. He'll be tied up in one of the dungeons. If he's lucky, they'll let him keep on his clothes and even then he'll still be cold. They'll tie his hands above his hand so high that he has to stand on his tiptoes. I can assure you that's not a position he can hold for very long. His muscles will start to protest and after a while, he'll let himself hang, cutting open his wrists. Someone will come in, put him under the cruciatus curse while still hanging from the bonds. He'll trash against the wall, cutting his wrists open even more. If he's lucky, he'll be let down. He'll be tortured until his face and body is nothing but a bloody mess, covered in welts from whipping him. He'll be begging for death but they won't let him die. They'll heal him every time, but just enough to keep him alive and to keep him in excruciating pain. He'll want to take his own life and eventually he'll succeed." Snape said, his voice emotionless.

Hermione and Pansy were shaking like leaves and Harry and Ron looked paler than ever. The thought of Draco having to go through all that was too much for Harry to handle. He felt despair and he felt the need to puke. He cursed the fact that he could imagine it all perfectly, he cursed the fact that he knew Snape was not just trying to scare them, he cursed the fact that it was the truth. They had no choice but to act and as soon as possible. Draco's life depended on it. The sooner they got him out, the less scarred and traumatized he would be. The sooner they got him out, the sooner Harry could tell them he was not going to give on them. Screw the world, screw everyone. If anything, this made him realize he loved Draco too much to give their relationship up. When Draco got back, he would never let him get away again. He would protect him and love him. He wouldn't care about who knew anymore. He was going to make sure Draco got out alive. If he needed Snape for it, then so be it.

"I'm in." Harry said. The other three muttered in agreement.

"Miss Parkinson, I need you to get some of Draco's friends who're willing to help out but only ask who you think can be trusted. Do it discreetly and return as soon as possible. We'll wait here."

Pansy nodded and disappeared out the door. Snape closed it and to be sure, locked it. They could not use any distractions.

"Do you have a plan?" Harry asked.

"Not yet. I need to know how many of us there will be first. Also, Potter, as much as I hate it, we won't be able to act until tomorrow night at the earliest. We need a good plan. Malfoy mansion will be crawling with Death Eaters who've heard. We'll need to be very careful. Our plans can't have any flaws. I need you to promise you won't do something as stupid as storm of on your own. That will most definitely cost Draco his life and it will cost you yours too."

Harry had to admit he had plans of storming of on his own but he knew Snape was right, it would only give them more trouble and it would not solve anything so he nodded reluctantly. Hermione wrapped a hand around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder.

"We'll get him out of there, Harry. We've solved life threatening situations before, we'll do it again."

"Your optimism is price-worthy, Miss Granger. Hold on to it." Snape said and the three teens actually saw emotion in Snape's eyes. They could see the worry, the guilt and the pain.

"Professor, you couldn't have stopped Lucius." Hermione spoke quietly. Harry was surprised that Hermione was actually trying to comfort their most hated teacher but this wasn't a normal situation. They had to work together, they had to encourage each other to keep going. Harry wondered what would happen after this. Now they would work together with the Slytherins, would have no choice but to trust each other to watch each other's back. Would the rivalry start again as soon as this situation was over?

Snape smiled bitterly. "I could have, Miss Granger."

For ten minutes, there was nothing but silence. A silence in which they tried to think of a plan. Then finally there was knock on the door. After recognizing Pansy's voice, Snape unlocked the door to let in four Slytherins. Pansy had brought along Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise Zabini.

"These are the only people I really trust, professor."

Snape nodded. "Let me say a few things first. There's no room for rivalry now. I don't want anyone to fight, argue or as much as glare at each other. We'll just have to get along now if we want to save Draco. That's why we're all here. Second, we're not going to do anything until we have a descent plan. If it takes two days, it takes us two days. Going in unprepared will create more problems than it will solve. Third, if any of this gets out to the wrong persons, I will personally kill whoever responsible. Fourth, Dumbledore doesn't know anything about this and we will keep it that way as well. Fifth, there's a good chance you'll all miss your lessons on Monday, we can not wait any longer than absolutely necessary. It would be best to go at night but if we happen to have a plan at noon, we'll not wait. Is that all clear?"

Everyone nodded their heads and a sense of excitement went through them.

"Good. Now, I want you all to go to bed."

Loud cries of protest broke out from the gathered students. Snape held up a hand and they fell silent.

"None of you will of any use if you're tired and not able to react quickly enough. We'll meet back here tomorrow at nine."

The students had no choice but to agree, once more knowing Snape was right. The trio left to their common room, as did the Slytherins.

Harry knew his sleep would be plagued with nightmares and he was right. It was one big nightmare in which he saw Draco undergoing everything Snape had told him. He woke up panting and sweaty. He was surprised but pleased that light was streaming through the windows. He sat up and noticed that his best friend was awake as well.

"What time is it?" Harry asked.

"It's eight am. Let's get ready and go out breakfast."

When they got in the common room, Hermione was already waiting. She looked like her sleep had been plagued with nightmares as well. She was pale but the expression in her eyes was one of determination.

At nine sharp, everyone was once more gathered in Snape's office. On his desk was a map of Malfoy Mansion.

"One of my contacts at the ministry sent me this. He owed me one," Snape said.

"How did you get it so fast? Did you sleep at all last night, professor?" Pansy asked. Snape ignored her question which was answer enough for the gathered youth. Harry could not help but feel sympathy towards Snape. He definitely looked as if he had stayed up all night, trying to get that map and thinking of a plan.

Snape pointed to a hallway. "This is in the dungeons. As you can see, there are a lot of rooms. We have no way of knowing in which of those Draco is. There's a secret passage way here in which we could enter. It would bring us in the middle of the hallway."

"Assuming he is in one of those rooms." Hermione said, looking thoughtful.

"What do you mean?" Pansy asked.

"Lucius is not stupid. He knows we'll come look for Draco. What if Draco's just being hidden in his room? What if there will be Death Eaters, waiting for us?"

"You may have a point, Miss Granger, but I don't think so." He said smiling slyly, "Lucius asked me to warn him when I got word that any of you would attempt to come. Lucius trusts me. He has no reason to not trust what I send him. We will have the element of surprise, trust me."

Harry could see a fire in Snape's eyes and also a loathing towards Lucius, one of his supposedly friends. A friend who would torture his own son because of him having a relationship with him.

"If that's the case, professor, then you can't come with us. If Lucius or any of the other Death Eater sees you with us, he'll have you punished," Blaise piped up.

Snape smiled sourly, "I know which is why I will be waiting outside. I don't like it but you're right, I can't be seen with you. I will help you plan everything though, every little detail."

Harry felt slightly uneasy at this. He didn't know why but the fact that Snape would not go in with them, worried him slightly. Snape was still an adult and an adult had something comforting around him. He guessed he wasn't the only one who felt that because Snape looked around and then spoke.

"I know it's not the most convenient or responsible solution for me to make but none of you would be here if you weren't willing to save Draco. I have faith in every one of you. I've seen what you can do."

Snape having faith in them was a weird concept but one that Harry would gladly overlook now. Their differences didn't matter. There was no room for any kind of feelings of hate.

Harry slowly nodded his head.

For the rest of the day, they continued to study the map, considering all possible ways of entering and leaving.

By 7 pm, they actually had a clear plan. They would enter the dungeons through the secret passage way under the mansion. If there would be Death Eaters waiting, they would take them out as soon as possible. They would split up into two groups: The Gryffindors and the Slytherins. The trio would go to the left and the four others would take the left. They would check all the rooms. If Draco was in none of those, they would all go through the rest of the house which they all knew was dangerous because the place would most likely be swarming with Death Eaters. In that case, Snape would come with them. He would not leave them on their own there. They would stay together and do each floor, taking out whoever they ran into.

"That leaves one more problem. How are we going to get there?"

"Brooms. I'm afraid that's the only way." Snape answered.

Harry nodded. Hermione didn't like that idea very much but they didn't have much of a choice. None of them but Snape could Apparate. They couldn't use the floo network. Flying was the only option.

"We'll have to land about half a mile from the Mansion and then go by foot until the hidden passage way. Chances are, it will be sealed off so we'll have to open it. I don't have any idea how but we'll worry about that when we get there. I suggest that everyone who has a broom, goes to get it and I'll get the rest. We'll meet up outside and take off at once."

Harry nodded, glad that they could do something. Already 24 hours had passed and he didn't even want to know how much damage could be done in that time. He shuddered. He looked around their little group and noticed how nervous everyone was all of a sudden. So many things could go wrong, they knew the risks.

Most of all, Harry was surprised that his friends had not protested about this whole thing once. They were just there, planning along with them and fully intending on saving someone they hated and he was pretty much the only reason they were doing that in the first place. He had to yet again ask himself what he had done to deserve such friends. They had put themselves into danger so many times for him before and they seemed to do it without as much as thinking about it. Some part of him didn't want them to come, he wanted to tell them to stay here but they needed the people. They would look out for each other, like they always did. They would get out without anyone getting seriously hurt. He had to have faith in them and in himself and he did. At the moment, he was even praying for the safety of the Slytherins.

Not even more than ten minutes later, they were gathered outside under the cloak of darkness. They all had a broom and their wands. They got on and pushed off, taking off in the night's sky, towards Malfoy Mansion. Harry's sense of nervousness grew how closer they got. What would they find? Would Draco even be at the Mansion? What would they do if he wasn't? Every scenario, varying from bad ones to good ones went through his head as the cold air blew his hair back and out of his face. He gripped the broom tighter and clenched his teeth so he wouldn't scream out in frustration. Now that he had nothing to do again, he felt the worry and panic rise once more. His heart was aching for Draco. He hoped he was still alive, he hoped that with whole his heart.

_Author's note:_ _The next chapter will be in Draco's POV. I'm working on it and I hope I can post it next weekend!_


	16. Draco

**Disclaimer: -**whistles-

**Author's note: **For once in this story, I'm going to change POV. This chapter will be in Draco's POV. It starts from where Lucius comes to get him. This chapter honestly gave me a headache, lol. Thanks to all the people who reviewed. It's much appreciated!! I love hearing what you think!  
And on another awesome note: A while back, I entered this local writing contest and I'm one of the three winners I'll find out the price and if I'm first, second or third in March somewhere. Keep your fingers crossed for me (:

**Right Kind of Wrong  
Draco**

Draco was sprawled out in one of the chairs of his cold common room. After three and a half years, he was used to the coldness and the kind of feeling of despair that the common room breathed out. He shut the text book he was holding and decided it was pointless to even try to read it, let alone attempt to study it.

This whole situation was highly dangerous. He was lucky he managed to convince most of the Slytherins that he rumour wasn't true. He just hoped it had been enough so that the news wouldn't travel outside of the castle walls. If that happened, well, then he was screwed. He had not heard anything from his father yet and he didn't know whether he should take that as a good or as a bad sign. It was nerve wrecking to say the least.

He wondered how Harry was holding up. He seemed to have most of the Gryffindors on his side as well which was good. Draco knew Harry had come clean to his friends, he had noticed it. He was more perceptive than people gave him credit for. He wished he could've told his friends as well but he couldn't. Truth was, he didn't trust them which was actually a sad thing. He was supposed to be able to trust them but you never knew with Slytherin so he kept it to himself, denied it. He had the feeling Pansy knew the truth though, the way she looked at him, studied him. He knew she knew but he wasn't exactly worried about that. She was the only one he more or less trusted. Add to that, that going against him in these circles was considered a bad thing. She would keep her assumptions to herself.

He sighed and closed his eyes. He wished for this day to be over soon. He wanted to go to bed and wake up, realizing it had all just been a bad dream and that he was still happy with Harry. He'd always known their relationship was doomed, they both had but they had both chosen to believe in each other and the relationship. It was foolish of them both, he knew that but it was nice believing in the idea behind the relationship. It was nice knowing he'd had at least some good factors in his life. Harry had kept him grounded, had for a while led him to believe he could be good but he could not fight his destiny. He sighed.

"Draco," a voice close to him said. He opened his eyes to find Severus standing above him, looking slightly alarmed. He shot up from the chair, eyes widening in fear.

"No,"

"He's here, he wants to see you."

Draco slowly shook his head. "Severus, you've got to do something."

"Draco, there is nothing I can do. Come on."

Draco followed Severus out of the common room. He locked eyes with Pansy and he could see her eyes widen. He had to give her some credit, she wasn't as stupid as he thought she was. His eyes pleaded with her to go to Harry as soon as she could. She seemed to get it because she slowly nodded. His father was waiting in Snape's office. He was greeted with a cold smile but that was nothing new.

"Draco, I'm sorry to pull you out off school now but there's been a family emergency. You have to come home at once. I cleared it with Dumbledore." Lucius said calmly. His voice didn't betray anything but Draco knew that was not the cause. Family emergency … yeah, right.

"Of course, father." He said weakly. He glanced over at Severus who just looked at him with a neutral expression on his features. He wouldn't get any help. He hadn't expected to. He understood that Severus couldn't go against his father without betraying that he might have known. No, Severus could not get involved in all of this.

Lucius gripped his arm and with a nod at Severus left the office. The walk to the castle doors was passed in absolute silence. The grip on his arm seemed to tighten with every step. Draco could not stop his heart from threatening to burst out of his chest. He swallowed heavily and he could feel tears sting. He knew he was not going to see Hogwarts again. He knew what Death Eaters were capable off. He knew his father wouldn't make an exception for him. He would get thrown into the dungeons, tortured and left to die after they had their fun. His heart started beating more wildly and he briefly considered making a run for it but the idea was discarded at once. He didn't have his wand. His father would catch him immediately.

The doors to the castle swung shut. He briefly closed his eyes and held back a sob. His father's grip tightened even more and his pace sped up. He was practically dragged now. They made it out of the protective barriers around Hogwarts. His father released him and Draco bravely looked up at him, holding his gaze. Out of his field of vision, he could see Lucius lift his hand. The back of his hand was slammed against his head which snapped to the side. His cheek was tingling unpleasantly. He looked back up at his father.

"How dare you?"

"Father, it's all lies." Draco said, making his voice sound cool and cold. He could not sound desperate or close to breaking. He could not let his father see that he was lying.

"You've always had an unhealthy obsession for the boy. I figured it was hate but it all makes much more sense now." Lucius said with an evil gleam in his eyes. "This rumour has quickly spread in Death Eaters circles. You will be punished for this. Don't even think for a second that anyone will come save you. No one can. If Potter so much as shows up to save you, he'll be dead. The Mansion is swarming with Death Eater, all looking forward to punish you for your actions."

Draco shook his head. "You shouldn't believe the rumours, father. They're nothing more than that."

"It doesn't even matter what I believe, Draco. It's too late."

This time, Draco saw some regret in his father's eyes but it was quickly replaced by fury. His father held his gaze and he too late realized what he was doing. Classes flashed in front of his eyes as if he was there again. He did his best to force his father out but didn't manage to do that before a memory of Harry and him kissing surfaced. His father's glare become impossible colder and he grabbed his arm again. He felt the unpleasant tug of Apparition. His body felt like it was squeezed together. He had trouble breathing but before he got overly concerned, they landed outside the boundaries of Malfoy Mansion. Draco smiled sadly. His house, his supposed safe haven would now be reduced to a house of pain and despair. Even if he got out, he would never be able to look at it the same way.

The path to the house was like usual illuminated. The shadows it cast were kind of eerie. The moon shone brightly. Draco looked up, wondering if he would ever see the moon and the stars again.

The door to the Mansion magically swung open and he was led inside. He was immediately led to the dungeons. He was surprised to see so many Death Eaters had turned up to watch the show. He held his head up high in the air, the expression on his face and in his eyes was cold. He looked self-confident, almost arrogant. He looked as if he found this entire thing highly ridiculous. No one jumped to his defence though, no one even asked if it was true or not. He could not understand how they all just assumed it was. These people knew him, at least the act he put on. How could they even suspect? How could they even know? No one attempted Legilimency this time but his father knew for sure which was bad enough.

He realized they couldn't know. He realized it didn't matter whether it was the truth or not. They were setting yet another example. They were making it clear that not even the kids could escape the wrath of the Death Eaters. It left him to wonder once more what kind of people they were. Who could take pride in torturing innocent souls? It made him see once more how wrong this all was. It made him once more realize he had never been meant to be a Death Eater.

He looked around and finally saw his mother. He could see tears slide from her eyes and she was shaking her head. She was the only person who gave a damn.

Two Death Eaters took him from his father. He was led into a cold cell. They pulled the Slytherin robes off him, leaving him in nothing but a black shirt and black trousers. He didn't even bother to fight when they held his hands way above his head and tightened the shackles around them. He had to stand on his tip-toes slightly. He knew this was not a position he could hold for very long. He'd heard prisoners cry out because they were tearing their own wrists open by letting their weight hang.

The door shut and he was alone in the cold and dark cell. His eyes adjusted soon enough but it didn't matter. There was nothing to see. His cell was nothing more than a square room with four walls and a door that he could barely make out.

It only took several minutes for him to start really feeling the cold. A cold wall pressed against his t-shirt covered back. He started shivering, only slightly but enough to feel his body tremble. He tried to stop the shivers because they would do nothing to help his situation. He bit his lip, drawing blood but managed to get the shivers under control.

He forced himself to start breathing regularly and calm his racing heart down. Panicking was not going to help any. If anything, he had to try to think rational, to think about what might help him to get out of here before they could do too much damage.

It worked for a while but soon, he started shivering again. The room seemed to get colder. He knew that wasn't the case but it sure felt that way. He clenched his fists together in the hope of getting his body under control but he couldn't anymore.

He didn't know how long he had been in the room when the door opened and light streamed in. He had to close his eyes. It was only artificial light but it still hurt. The muscles in his arms were already protesting and he could feel them grow tired. The shackles were cutting into his tender flesh.

Two hooded Death Eaters entered the room. Draco pushed himself back against the wall, hoping it would just swallow him up. Somehow he doubted they were here for just a friendly chat. It was starting already.

"Please don't do this," he pleaded. They didn't speak. They didn't even lift their wands. Excruciating pain shot through his body and he trashed against the wall. The shackles cut into his flesh as he unwillingly pulled at his wrists. A small trickle of warm blood ran down his left arm. The pain stopped and he was left panting. He had no time to catch his breath. The pain started again and he cried out. It was like nothing he had ever felt before. It felt like thousands of knives were being stuck in his body. This time the pain was longer or perhaps it only seemed that way. As soon as it had come, the pain went away. He felt like he had just ran ten miles through a burning heat while having knives thrown at him. Not the most pleasant feeling ever.

The two Death Eaters left and Draco was left alone in the dark again, panting, covered in sweat, hanging limply from the wall and with tears sliding out of his eyes. He hadn't even noticed he was crying until now. It stopped soon enough. His wrists were hurting, he managed to let his weight rest on his feet again. His muscles were aching but his wrists could not take his weight. He shivered at the cold that was oh-so present in his cell.

He wasn't left alone for too long. It couldn't have been more than half an hour later when the door opened again. Draco looked up, recognizing his father. A cold sneer was clear on his face.

"Let him down." Lucius ordered. The Death Eater with him did as he was told and magically opened the shackles. Draco barely managed to stay upright. He cradled his left wrist against his body, that one was in the worst shape. It was bleeding, while his other wrist merely looked raw but it still hurt.

The Death Eater stepped forward, grabbed him by the arm and roughly threw him to the ground. Draco didn't have time to break his fall and landed hard on his shoulder. He winced. He raised himself up on his elbow a little, pain shot through his arm at the movement. He looked up at his father, an expression of pain clear in his grey eyes. His father's expression of disgust did not change.

His father stepped closer. A boot came dangerously close and connected with his face. The impact caused him to roll over on his back. His jaw hurt and he could taste the coppery taste of blood. Before he could react, the boot connected with his side. His body jerked in response. The onslaught continued and when he turned on his side and wrapped his arms around his stomach in protection, more kicks were aimed at his back. His eyes slid closed and he tried to distance himself from the pain by thinking about happier things. He tried to think of Harry and it seemed to work. His body more or less relaxed and the sharp pain he had felt before became nothing more than dull sting. A small, hardly noticeable smile appeared on his dry and slightly cracked lips.

Next thing he knew, he was being dragged up and shackled back against the wall. His eyes opened and the image of Harry disappeared, causing the pain that had previously not sunk in to return to full force. Standing up was doing nothing to ease the pain in his ribs. He would not be surprised if a few were cracked, if not broken. He could also clearly feel the pain in his back now.

His father and the other Death Eater left without saying more, leaving Draco alone in the dark once more. The feeling of despair grew. He wouldn't be able to take this much longer. He had never been able to handle pain and this much was just killing him, pretty literally. He wanted them to get this over with. If they did decide not to kill him, then his life would not be much of a life anymore. He knew they didn't have mercy, that they would continue to torture him until his blood had stained the floor and dried up. They would not stop until blood flew freely, taking his life with it. Tears of frustration and pain slid down his face.

How could he have ever been so stupid to start something with Harry? He had known the risks from the start. He had known what it would mean if they would find out and he had always known they would. Yet he had chosen to give himself those months of happiness, of being so in love that the rest of the world didn't matter. He was paying the price with his life. It just didn't seem worth it now. If he could, he would never have started something with Harry, he would've kept pining after him but he wouldn't have started something with him. The happiness he had felt was not worth his life. Love was not worth it. Love couldn't help him here, nothing or no one could. His tears were flowing freely and he let out an icy scream. He started yelling, screaming about how stupid he had been. He didn't know or care whether someone heard him. He was yelling at himself, beating himself up over the fact that he had thought he could know love. He had always been destined for a love-less life. His screams echoed from the falls, it seemed to increase tenfold. As soon as they started, they died out but his tears didn't stop. Sobs racked his body and it hurt to cry but he couldn't stop.

Eventually he was cried out, no more tears. He moaned weakly at all of the pain. He couldn't manage much more than the weak moan anyway. His energy was drained and he didn't care anymore. Standing up was too painful, he let himself hang. He could feel the shackles cut further into his flesh but he just didn't care. With a little bit of luck, they would go deep enough and cut over his vein. Then he would bleed to death soon enough. He closed his eyes. He was so tired.

His eyes shot open at the sound of the heavy door opening. His wrists were hurting more badly than ever. He seemed to have somehow dozed off. How on earth he had managed that was a mystery. He had now lost all track of time. He forced himself to stand on his tiptoes again, relieving some of the pressure from his wrists. Two hooded Death Eaters had entered. One of them carried a long and thin wooden box. Draco knew what that was. They put the box on the ground and came over to him. The shackles loosened. The two men grabbed him and tore his shirt off. He didn't even bother fighting them. He was in too much pain and had given up. His arms were once more raised above his head but this time he was standing with his face pressed against the wall. The cold of the wall actually felt good against his bruised front. He closed his eyes and waited.

The first hit of the whip came soon enough. The sound of whip hitting flesh echoed through the room. With the second hit, his body jerked slightly. With the third, he released a weak moan. By the tenth, he was begging them to stop and kill him. He didn't want to say the words but the more pain he felt, the quicker they seemed to slide out of his mouth. He didn't get any response. He could feel blood run down his back. It felt warm.

The next sound he heard was the closing of the door. They had left him alone again, probably not for long. This time he could stand up more easily. The muscles in his arms and legs hurt but he was beyond caring about all the pain. He just wanted to die. An image of Harry slid in front of his closed eyelids. A smile spread across his face.

Perhaps it had been all worth it. He had known love, even if it had been briefly. He had felt true happiness and even the fights they had, didn't seem as bad now because in a weird way, the fights they had had meant they loved each other. Harry would be with him when he died, in his heart, in his mind, in his very soul. Harry had changed him more than he would ever know, had made him a better person. He was never going to grow old or see his friends again. He was never going to finish his education at Hogwarts but somehow, that didn't hurt him as much as the thought of not knowing what could have been between him and Harry. Although they had broken up on bad terms, he knew they would've gotten back together because that's what always happened. Perhaps then they had not been afraid to face everyone. Perhaps if they had gotten a little more time, they could've figured something out.

His eyelids felt more heavy than ever and pretty soon, he couldn't open them anymore. He wasn't completely unconscious because he felt it when they beat him up again but he couldn't feel the pain any longer. He felt as if a cocoon had wrapped around his soul, protecting it from the harm being done to his body. He felt strangely at peace and even happy. He realized life was slipping away from him with every drop of blood that spilled from his body but he couldn't bring himself to care. Why would he? His body was nothing more than a place of pain. Soon, his soul would be free.

_Author's note: Draco's dying … will his friends arrive in time to save him or not? __Next chapter will pick up where the previous one stopped._


	17. Rescue

**Disclaimer: **What do you think?

**Author's note: **Thank you for all the lovely reviews! And voila, the next chapter!

**Right kind of Wrong  
Rescue**

They landed in the middle of a clearing of the forest. From up in the air, they had been able to see the Mansion. Harry had just wanted to fly until there and possibly go in through a window but that was not a good idea and it would most likely get him killed so he resisted the urge. They left their brooms behind. They would magically call them when they needed them. Snape grabbed his map and led the way, the kids trailing nervously behind him. Pansy had the tip of her wand illuminated and was holding it over the map so Snape could read it.

Harry's heart was threatening to break out of his chest. He was nervous but excited in a way. He always felt like this before a fight. The only different was that this was one fight he was looking forward to. Kick some Death Eater ass and save his boyfriend. He knew it would not be that easy, it never was. They would all be lucky to get out relatively unharmed.

Snape stopped walking and Harry nearly bumped into him. Harry looked up and saw a small cabin.

"The hidden entrance is in that cabin." Snape spoke. The cabin was dark and looked as if no one had been in there for years. "Wait here."

They watched as their professor headed into the wooden cabin. The door creaked terribly as Snape pushed it open. The door closed and they could see all kinds of light flashed but nothing to indicate that Snape was in any kind of trouble. Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged a look, wondering what Snape was doing in there. Snape came outside again a minute later with a relieved smile on his face.

"I had feared it was some kind of trap, that some kind of alarm would go off if the hidden entrance door was opened but that doesn't seem to be the case. I've cast every spell I could think of that would reveal any hidden booby traps or alarms and didn't come across any. I think Lucius thinks this entrance won't be a problem. It doesn't show on any maps but thanks to some contacts at the ministry, I managed to get the real map." Snape explained quickly. The teens nodded their heads. When they entered the cabin, the entrance was already visible. Snape must've used his magic for this already. Harry felt a bit impressed. Snape definitely knew what he was doing.

The group entered the tunnel. It was actually big enough for them to stand and be able to walk two by two. This must've served as some quick escape route in case they ever needed to get away really quickly, probably during times of war. They walked in silence, their footsteps echoed of the walls. After ten minutes, they reached the end of the tunnel. They could see the dungeons but it was a bit blurry.

"As you can see, there's no solid wall. They cannot see us hidden in here because they will see solid wall and feel solid wall as well when they touch it, unless they cast a spell to reveal the tunnel. You should have no trouble walking through it now though. This is as far as I can go with you. Be careful and try to be as quick as possible. I don't expect much trouble since it's late but you never know." Snape said whispering. The students nodded, took a deep breath and walked through the wall. It kind of felt like walking through water but without getting 

wet. It was a strange sensation and Harry had to check several times to make sure he was not in fact dripping all over the floor.

He firmly gripped his wand. They were standing in a small corridor. On their right and straight ahead was solid wall. They seemed to be at the complete right side of the dungeon. Harry carefully took a few steps and peeked around the corner. What he saw surprised him. There was a long corridor with ten doors on either side. He could not understand how they could possibly need that many torture rooms. Perhaps at some point in the past, they had been used for something else though. He didn't know. About five doors down on the right, there was another corridor. The corridor seemed clear.

"Ron, Hermione, you're with me." Harry whispered, taking charge at once, "You guys wait here until we give you the clear signal. Then check every room. When you find him, take him back to Snape and let Snape send his Patronus for us. If you've checked all the rooms and come up with nothing, get back to Snape as well. Do not come behind us, unless we're in real trouble in which cause we'll most likely be screaming and shouting so you'll hear us."

"Not very comforting, mate." Ron whispered as the Slytherins nodded their heads. Harry ignored his best friend and snuck forward with Hermione and Ron right behind him. The ground was a bit wet so their footsteps could be heard. They tried to be as quiet as possible. They reached the second corridor. More doors. At the end of the corridor, there was a stairs that no doubt led back up to the house. There were two Death Eaters talking at the bottom of the stairs, hoods pulled over their heads and heavily cloaked. They had no idea of knowing who they were. Harry pulled his head back and turned to his waiting friends.

"Two," he mouthed. He produced his Invisibility Cloak from under his shirt. He figured it might come in handy. It wouldn't do them much good when they were up against too many Death Eaters since barely two people could hide under it but for a situation like this one, it was highly convenient.

He covered Ron and himself with the cloak and left a glaring Hermione standing where she was. Ron and Harry snuck closer, walking as quietly as they could. Harry looked around a bit but all rooms were dark so there was no way of knowing for sure that Draco was in one of these rooms. He swallowed heavily. They came within hearing distance.

"- much longer they'll keep him alive," the one on the right said. If Harry had to take a guess, he guessed they were talking about Draco. His expression turned to one of fury and hate welled up inside of him. Both he and Ron raised their wands. When Harry nodded, both uttered one little word. A red flash shot from their wands and the two Death Eaters fell to the ground. Harry jumped out from under the Cloak. He magically opened the closest door and started pulling the first Death eater inside. Ron came over to help and together they got the two inside. They briefly closed the door behind them. They took away the two wands and proceeded to tie both up with their own clothes. It didn't take them more than a minute. When they were about to open the door, they could hear voices at the top of the stairs.

"Nox," both Harry and Ron whispered quickly. Footsteps descended down the stairs. Harry and Ron exchanged a worried look, thinking the same: Hermione. Harry hoped she heard and had the good sense to duck inside of a room as well.

"Where did McGraw and Johnson go?" A cold, drawling voice said. Harry recognized it all too well and he glared at the door. Ron placed a hand on his shoulder to restrain him from opening the door and throwing himself at Malfoy which seemed like a very good idea. He 

would just love to hurt the son of a bitch but he had to think of their plan. Their presence had to go unnoticed for as long as possible.

Malfoy and another Death eater stopped right in front of their door. Harry could hear his own heart beat wildly and was afraid Malfoy just might hear it through the door too. Sweat was starting to form on his forehead. They were in highly dangerous territory.

"I don't know, sir." Said an unfamiliar voice. He sounded scared, afraid he might be punished because of this.

"Find them!" Lucius yelled, "Bring them to me!"

Footsteps hurried back up the stairs and footsteps echoed through the hallway. They were walking further away. Malfoy was no doubt going to check on Draco. Harry wanted to slide on his Invisibility Cloak and follow but was stopped by Ron.

"Bad idea, Harry. If he sees or hears the door open, we're screwed. Sit tight," Ron whispered.

"Ron, we've got to-"

"I know! But for once trust me that we have to wait."

"He'll kill him!"

"He won't yet. He'll want to know where these two disappeared off to first." Ron hissed back. Harry reluctantly gave in. They could indeed not risk people finding out they were here but if Lucius was killing Draco now, he would never forgive himself.

Harry didn't know for how long they waited in the dark. They heard a faint scream that no doubt belonged to Draco. It made Harry stiffen up completely. He clenched his fists, nails digging into the flesh. It was the only way to stop himself from storming out right now and going to Draco. Time passed way too slow. He had taken up pacing. Lucius had not yet returned but Draco had not made another sound. This worried him even more than hearing a sound would make him worry. When he heard a sound, he'd at least know Draco was still alive. He didn't know now and the uncertainty drove him absolutely crazy. His heart was pounding in his ears now and he felt like he could pass out at any moment. His entire being was too alert, trying to catch a sound that was not there.

It took ages before they heard footsteps again, footsteps that lead back upstairs. When Harry was sure the door had closed, he stormed out, Ron right behind him. Hermione and the Slytherins ran up to him.

"I know which room he's in," Hermione said, speaking quickly, "I saw Lucius go inside, he didn't see me. I think he won't be gone for long though. Get him out, we'll stand guard."

"Blaise, you're with me. Ron stay with Hermione. Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, get under the cloak. I don't want them seeing you guys," Harry hissed. They'd be fighting against their own if a fight happened. He didn't want them to have to suffer the consequences as well.

Hermione led him to the right cell and opened up the lock. Harry and Blaise entered. Blaise lit the tip of wand and both boys gasped.

Draco was hanging limply from the wall. His chin was resting on his chest. He was shirtless. Every piece of skin Harry could see was bruised and bloody. He knew it didn't look worse 

than it was. He knew it was bad. He hurried forward. He could see the blood that had run down from Draco's wrists. His eyes went upwards and he saw where the shackles had cut into his tender flesh.

He felt sick. How could people do this to another human being? How could they torture and hurt someone so bad? It fuelled his hate for Lucius but he pushed that hate to the back of his mind. He could not let it consume him now. He had to take care of Draco. He took his wand and opened the shackles. Harry stepped forward just in time to catch Draco's seemingly lifeless body. He gently lowered him to the ground and felt for a pulse. An immense sense of relief went through him when he felt one, a faint but it was there. Blaise came closer.

"Draco?" Harry asked, stroking a strand of bloody hair away from Draco's forehead. He got no response. "I'm here now, okay? Don't give up on me now, we're going to get you out of here safely." He whispered. He knew though that they should attempt to heal some of his wounds before they tried to move him. If he had a cracked or broken rib, it might get worse and puncture a lung. Blaise seemed to get this because he went to get Hermione.

The young witch entered their cell and gasped too. "Oh my god."

"Hermione, how good are you at healing spells?" Harry asked.

"I know a few but not much. We don't have time for this now, though, Harry. We've got to get out of here." She whispered urgently. From what Harry could see, her eyes were wide in horror but also fear, fear at what could happen if they were found here.

"I know but what if by moving him we make it worse? I cannot lose him, Hermione." His voice cracked and he felt at the verge of tears.

"If we get him back to Snape, maybe he can help. I can only heal some cuts and bruises but nothing big. I'm of no help, Harry." She said. The expression in her eyes turned apologetically. Harry nodded in understanding. He took Draco's hand, the one that seemed less bruised and squeezed gently.

"You're going to be fine, Draco. We're going to get you out of here and then you and I are going to have a talk about us. I love you," he mumbled. A tear slid out of his eye. He wished he could've protected Draco from this, he should've been there.

"What are you doing down here?" a voice shouted.

"Stupefy!" They heard Ron yell. "We've got to get out of here, there are more coming."

Harry's heart started pounding wildly again. He'd never thought it could beat this fast, he'd never thought his heart could handle this much excitement.

Pansy head's popped up out of nowhere. He was impressed the three of them had gotten under there. "What do we do?"

Hermione ran out to help Ron fight.

"Take Draco back under the cloak to Snape and get out of here! We'll join you in the cabin as soon as we get out of here." Crabbe and Goyle got out from under it and took their unconscious friend.

"Blaise, Pansy, stay here." Harry said.

"Potter -"

"You cannot be seen!" Harry hissed and then ran out. He saw feet disappear but he didn't think anyone would notice.

Cries of disbelief went through the Death Eaters that had gathered in the dungeons upon seeing him.

"We've got him," Harry hissed. Their mission now was take out as many Death Eaters as possible and get back to the wall without anyone following them. This seemed quite impossible as more Death Eaters entered the dungeons. The three teens cried the same spell over and over again, hoping to paralyze as many Death Eaters as possible. The spells that were shot back at them were much more dangerous.

Harry winced when a particularly vicious one hit his left arm. The spell caused a deep cut that started bleeding like crazy. If the cries of pain of his friends were anything to go by, they weren't doing much better. He was starting to get out of breath and his aim was becoming worthless. He spotted a blond mop of hair at the top of the stairs. Malfoy senior seemed to be watching the battle but was not participating. Harry wanted nothing more than to send some vicious spells at him but he was too far away from him and with his aim, he probably wouldn't hit him either.

With their limited knowledge of spells, it became clear soon that they needed to get out. A green beam missed Harry by an inch. A curse escaped his mouth. This was starting to get too dangerous. The Death Eaters were not just trying to hurt them anymore, they were trying to kill them now.

"Bombarda!" Pansy shouted out. There was a loud rumble and then the ceiling started coming down between the Death Eaters and them. Harry's eyes widened when the ceiling above them started showing some serious cracks as well.

"Run!" Harry shouted. The entire ceiling was coming down and if they didn't hurry, they would be get hit with parts of the debris too. Blaise ran over to Ron and helped Harry support him. His leg was bleeding badly. Hermione was clutching her arm but could run without help. He could hear Death Eaters screaming but he couldn't quite begin to care.

They made it back to the wall which was now open and disappeared through it. They got back as quickly as they could. The tunnel was dangerous too. It was shaking and sand was coming down. They made it back to the cabin right as the entire tunnel structure collapsed. They could still hear the rumble of stones falling down. It seemed as if Pansy's little spell had caused the Malfoy mansion to become very unstable.

Outside of the cabin, they found Snape, Crabbe, Goyle and an unconscious Draco.

"Good thinking, Pansy." Harry said as he sank down on the ground, panting heavily.

"Everyone okay?" Snape asked sharply.

"I think my leg is broken," Ron said, voice filled with pain.

"Cuts and bruises," Hermione answered.

"Nasty cut and cuts and bruises," Harry said, sitting up and crawling over to Draco who was now wearing Snape's robe.

"We're fine," Pansy said, indicating herself and Blaise. "Potter told us to stay back."

"Good thinking, Potter." Snape said with a small nod. "Draco will be fine. I healed some of his more critical wounds but he's still in pretty bad shape. I'm confident it will all heal, though he will probably have scars.

Harry nodded and took Draco's hand in his. "You'll be fine."

_Author's note: I sincerely apologize for cutting this off so abruptly. I'm leaving for Italy tomorrow for 7 days and I wanted to post this before I left. _


	18. Endings and Beginnings

**Disclaimer: -**whistles-

**Author's note**: As much as I want to keep this story going, my inspiration is kind of gone. I've got ideas but I can't write them down properly so I'm not going to leave you guys hanging and end it with this extra long chapter. Thank you to everyone who's read this story and a special thanks and a cookie to the people who took the time to review. I enjoyed reading all of your reviews and comments. And I had a blast writing this story! Don't worry, this is by no means my last HPDM story, there will be more. I just don't know if there will be any long chapter fics. Anyway, on with the story!

**Right Kind of Wrong  
Endings and beginnings**

They made it back to the castle in a record time. Snape had done his best to fix Ron's leg before taking off but had not been able to heal it completely. Because they had not wanted to take the risk of Ron falling off his broom, he had flown on the back of Blaise's. Snape had taken Draco on his broom. The others had been fine to fly on their own although Harry was more sore after the flight on the broom than before. It had done him little good but his only concern was for Draco.

Dumbledore was waiting for them on the grounds. He had a serious expression on his face and his hands were folded in front of his body. Harry swallowed. They were doomed.

"The hospital wing is ready for Mister Malfoy," Dumbledore spoke as soon as they came within hearing distance. His voice was calm but there was a hint of anger too. "After you bring him there, I would like a word with you in my office, Severus."

"Professor-" Harry started but was interrupted.

"I was not speaking to you, Mister Potter. I suggest all of you get taken care of and then I will decide what to do about this situation." He turned on his heels, his cloak flew behind him and he walked back inside.

Snape clenched his jaw and headed into the castle, holding Draco carefully in his arms. The castle was quiet, no one knew what had just happened at the Malfoy mansion. Harry was sure though that by the next night, the entire school would know. The little group headed up the stairs. Blaise was still supporting Ron and Pansy was now helping Hermione who was limping slightly.

The trip to the hospital wing seemed to take forever. Adrenaline was slowly starting to fade and he could feel his bruises now. He was aware of the throbbing in his arm where a curse had hit him. He was aware of every bruise he'd gotten. It hurt like hell. He guessed the others were in a similar state. Only now, the pain was starting to fully sink in.

Finally, they made it. Madame Pompfrey was waiting. Her eyes widened upon seeing them all. "Oh my. What did you all get up to?" She asked but she didn't wait for an answer. Instead, she took Draco from Severus who then left and placed him on the nearest bed. She looked at the other teens.

"Everyone lie down and I will come check on you as soon as I can." She spoke, not looking up at them as she started to remove Draco's clothes to check for the damage that had been done. Harry got into the bed closest to Draco and carefully kept his eyes on the other boy. He 

winced when he saw all the bruises again and hate bubbled up. Not as strong as before because he simply couldn't bring himself to feel it. He was too tired and too sore.

A minute later, professor McGonagall stormed in. Her hair was messy, she'd just got out of bed but at least she was dressed. Her mouth dropped open as she took in the scene in front of her. Gryffindors and Slytherins spread out over the hospital wing, some more bruised than others.

"I cannot believe Severus put you all in danger like this," she muttered angrily under her breath. Harry sat up straighter in his bed.

"We did what we had to. And good thing we did or Draco would've been dead." Harry said. He was more than ready to defend Snape on this one. For once, Snape had done the right thing and he would make sure everyone knew that.

McGonagall's eyes fell on Draco and an expression of horror appeared on her face. It seemed as if she could exactly guess what had happened to him. Her expression softened slightly.

"You should've asked for help."

"We did. Professor Dumbledore said he couldn't do anything so we did it on our own." Hermione piped up. Harry looked at her. A determination was clear in her hazel brown eyes. She too believed they had done the right thing, she too would defend their actions.

McGonagall rubbed her forehead and appeared to be thinking.

"Minerva, instead of standing there, do you think you could maybe check their injuries?" Pompfrey asked without looking up.

"Right, right. Of course." She came up too Harry first and was about to take his arm to look at his injury.

Harry shook his head. "Help my friends first."

Much to his surprise, she nodded and went over to Ron.

Not more than an hour later, they were all taken care of. Harry had gotten some kind of painkillers which had made all the pain go away and which left him dozing slightly. He was still very much aware of his surroundings but he didn't care, nor could he form a coherent thought. The bed felt as if he was lying on a white, soft cloud. His face felt warm, it seemed as if rays of sun were warming his face. He smiled and drifted off into a peaceful sleep. He didn't dream, he didn't think, there was nothing.

When he awoke several hours later, his blissfulness had gone. He felt sore. His arm had been healed but it still hurt. His millions of bruises had not been healed but they didn't really need to be. Only the life-threatening or more or less bad bruises had been healed. The rest would heal on their own, something Harry was not so happy about now. He sat up. Why was it so blurry? He felt for his glasses but they were not where they were supposed to be. He reached around for his glasses on the nightstand and finally, his hand connected with them. He put them on and blinked a couple of times. The curtains around his bed had been drawn.

He stood up and winced. He opened the curtains. Light was streaming in through the many windows. It was probably somewhere in the afternoon. He could hear voices drift up. Normal school sounds. It was weird that not even twelve hours ago, they had been fighting for their 

lives. He smiled a bit. The hospital wing was quiet, apart from snoring. His companions were sleeping. He didn't exactly worry about them, he knew they were fine. His worry went out to Draco. He pulled back the curtains around Draco's bed and closed them again after himself.

Draco looked peaceful. His face had various colours from the bruises. Harry couldn't see the rest of them. He carefully sat down on the side of the bed. He couldn't stop the tears from welling up. He had never before been this relieved, Draco was fine, he'd pull through. He took the hand that was laying on the sheet into his. Unlike the night before, his hand was now warm and he could even feel Draco's pulse beating steadily. It was comforting.

"He's under heavy sedation."

Harry pretty much jumped and turned to look at Pompfrey. He had not heard her approach.

"He was in pretty bad shape, he's going to be in a lot of pain too so it's better for him if he sleeps some more, give his body some time to heal." She explained further.

Harry nodded and turned his attention back to the boy on the bed. He loved Draco so much, more than he ever thought would be possible. If anything, he had realized they were meant to be together. A little voice in his head told him they couldn't but he was in favour of ignoring that voice. It was time to listen to his heart and his heart was telling him they could make this work if they tried hard enough. There would still be fights but they just had to figure out a way to talk calmly about stuff. It would be different now too, they wouldn't have to sneak around anymore. They could let people know now.

He leaned down close to Draco's ear. "I love you, Draco."

Draco probably couldn't hear him but it didn't matter. It felt right saying those words. It was love. Perhaps he was too young to say those words or even know what they meant but he could not explain that feeling in his heart. He was lost without Draco, he wanted to be with him for the rest of his life. If that wasn't love, then he didn't know what was.

He had no idea how long he sat on the side of Draco's bed , just looking at him, holding his hand to reassure him that Draco was safe and just thinking. The next to disturb his thoughts was Snape.

"What did Dumbledore say?" Harry asked.

"It was wrong of me to put you all in harm's way, I should've known better, I should not have dragged you out there."

"But you didn't!"

"He wants to speak with you and the others too tomorrow, as soon as you all feel better."

"What will happen?" Harry asked cautiously.

Snape sighed. "I don't know, Potter. I honestly don't but I could lose my job."

"I won't let that happen, professor." Harry said. He had never thought he would try to help Snape but he wanted to.

"I'm going to see if the others are awake," he said so Snape could spend some time with Draco. He found Hermione sitting on the side of Ron's bed and holding his hand. Ron had a stupid smile on his face and Hermione's eyes were brighter than ever. He silently snickered.

"Hey. You two okay?" he asked as he sat down on the other side of Ron's bed.

"We're fine, you?" Hermione asked.

"I'm good." Harry smiled, "How about the Slytherins?"

"Still asleep, I think. Haven't heard anything." Ron answered.

Harry nodded.

"How's Draco?" Came Hermione's worried voice.

"He'll live. He's under heavy sedation so he'll be out for a while. Dumbledore wants to see us all tomorrow."

Hermione sighed, "Do you think he'll expel us?"

"For doing the right thing?"

"For breaking about a dozen of school rules AND the law." Hermione corrected.

Harry shrugged. "We'll see. We did the right thing, we had no choice."

"We know, Harry." Ron said soothingly.

The Gryffindors and the Slytherins were officially released from the hospital wing the next morning. They decided that getting breakfast would be the best option. After that, they could face the headmaster. They got some weird looks especially since four Slytherins now sat at the Gryffindor table. No one asked though.

Snape descended from the teachers' table to come over to them. This got them more weird looks but more curious ones this time. Snape gave them to password to Dumbledore's office. The teens made their way over in silence, not sure what to expect. They took the staircase up. Harry knocked on the door.

"Enter."

The seven teens entered. Seven chairs had been drawn up and they sat down.

Dumbledore studied each one of them which made everyone but Harry feel uncomfortable. He'd undergone this stare many times before, he could stare back without fidgeting now.

"After I clearly told you not to interfere, you did anyway."

"We had to, professor!" Hermione said, much to Harry's surprise. He had not expected her to speak first. "They were going to kill him! We did what we believed we had to, as did professor Snape. If you or anyone else is going to hold this against us, then so be it."

"Is that so, Miss Granger? Don't you think there are quite a few wizards out there that want you dead now after your little stunt? Do you think the Death Eaters are going to let you get away with this?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"We've faced them before, we'll do it again." Ron spoke bravely.

"My dear boy, it is a miracle you got out alive at all. You have won some battles in the past, both by talent and sheer luck but you are nothing against fully trained Death Eaters."

Ron paled considerably.

"You did not think about the consequences before you acted."

"We did think about the consequences if we didn't act!" Harry spoke heatedly. "I was not about to let Draco die! If they want to come after me, fine! Let them." He crossed his arms and glared.

"Harry, you have gone through a lot, faced a lot of challenges and overcome them but don't let that interfere with your judgement. Fact is, what you did out there was foolish."

"That maybe so but we're glad we did." Pansy said.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I am glad to see some house unity although I wish it could have happened under different circumstances. Lucky for all of you, I managed to get the situation under control. The Death Eaters will not hurt you."

Harry felt relieved but also wary. "What did you do?"

"Let's just say I have some contacts in high places who owed me and helped me out a bit. No one beside the Death Eaters present last night, you seven, professor Snape and I know about what happened last night. Let us keep in that way for all of your sakes."

"What will happen to us now?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing. You will continue to follow lessons here at Hogwarts. I admire your bravery for saving Draco but I hope you understand that your little adventure could have easily cost you all of your lives."

"What about professor Snape?" Harry asked.

"He shall continue to teach Potions. I do not agree with what he did but it has become clear he did not pressure any of you into joining him. There's nothing I can or want to do."

"What about everyone else? They'll ask questions." Pansy said worriedly, "We can't tell them the truth."

"I'm sure you can come up with a plausible story. After all, you managed to make up an escape plan. Whatever you think of will be fine. Be sure to let me know. Now, if you excuse me, I have some business to attend to."

The shocked group left the office. Harry could not believe they had gotten off that easily. No punishment and Dumbledore had cleaned up their mess. He felt more than a little guilty about that. Yet he still believed they did the right thing. They had had no choice. The hallways were quiet. Lessons were in progress but they had better things to do then follow some lessons now.

"What do you think he did?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think I want to know." Ron replied.

"It's a good thing no one but us knows what happened." Pansy answered.

"About that, we need a cover up story." Blaise said groaning, "I think that just might be our punishment. How on earth are we going to come up with something believable that will explain Draco's bruises, your bruises and our lack of bruises?"

"Well, Draco could've gotten back from his parents' early. Their family problem had been solved. You all ran into us three and we got into a fight. We uttered a couple of curses we didn't know the effect of, Malfoy got caught up the most. We were caught by Snape. Now we have to spend time together as punishment and have to get to know each other." Ron said.

"The only problem with that is that the Slytherins will hate you."

"I know something. It's a bit out there but it might just work," Hermione spoke up.

Harry smiled. Leave it to Hermione to come up with something.

"What if Lucius wasn't really Lucius? Someone kidnapped Draco by using poly-juice potion. Pansy, you followed and you noticed how the man turned back and Draco got kidnapped. You ran to us for help although you hated it but you knew we could help. We tracked down the man, found out he'd been torturing Draco. He had a score to settle with Lucius for torturing his own son. Harry, Ron and I fought with the man while you, as Draco's friends, went over to help him. We came back to the castle and that's that." Hermione explained, crossing her arms and smiling smugly.

Blaise opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again and nodded. "That will work."

The others nodded. They discussed the details for a while longer and made sure they had their stories straight. By the time they were done, it was noon and the seven went for lunch, this time sitting at their own tables.

It wasn't long before the questions came and they all answered with their well rehearsed story. Everyone bought it and everyone thought Harry was even more of a hero. Harry hated the fact how everyone thought he was so awesome. Fact was, he couldn't have done it without his friends, yet no one seemed to realize that.

He was glad when he could escape to Gryffindor tower with his friends.

"Well, that's going to take ages to blow over. They all love you again, Harry." Ron said grinning.

Harry groaned. "I couldn't care less about all of that. Honestly. I hope they'll cancel the third task."

"Oh yeah! I'd forgotten all about that." Hermione exclaimed, looking worried.

"It's still far away, nothing to worry about yet. And I really don't want to now either." They reached the common room and entered.

Somehow, it felt strange being back. It seemed as if they hadn't been there in ages while in reality, it had only been two days. They sat down in front of the fire. The full situation really sank in for the first time.

"We came really close to dying." Harry said, staring into the flickering fire.

"I know but we didn't." Hermione spoke, "We always get through stuff like this."

"Perhaps one day we won't."

"Come on, mate. Don't worry about that now. We got through it, we're all safe and we brought Malfoy back. Mission accomplished. Do no worry about what could have been, it will only drive you crazy." Ron spoke soothingly.

"I know." Harry said but he couldn't help but think about all the things that could've gone wrong. It was silly. They were back, it was over. They had nothing to worry about. Still, Draco could've been killed. Hermione and Ron could've been killed. The Slytherins could've been killed. He buried his head in his hands. He couldn't keep the thoughts from running free in his head.

"As much as I hate to say it, it's time to grab our stuff and go to class."

"Yeah, I guess." Harry said. He wanted nothing more than to go see Draco but the other boy probably wasn't even awake anyway so there was no point in going to sit by his side. They needed to get back to their normal lives.

Harry and Ron went up to the boy dormitories to grab their stuff. They waited back in the common room for Hermione. The trio headed for Charms.

Their lessons went by quickly enough but by the end of the day, Harry was quite annoyed. If he caught one more person staring adoringly at him, he was going to either kill that person or kill himself. The former sounded better. Ron and Hermione had repeatedly told him to let it go, they said it would blow over. For everyone's sake, he hoped it did. He was so tired of being seen as the big hero, the saviour. He was a teenager for crying out loud. If Voldemort came back, they would all expect him to defeat him while in reality , he didn't know if he could. He'd survived his previous encounters because of his friends and sheer luck. It was as simple as that.

After dinner, Harry immediately headed to the Hospital Wing. Madame Pompfrey told him Draco had not yet woken up but she predicted it wouldn't take much longer. Harry sat in the chair by his bed. Draco's face was now almost healed again.

Harry reached out and took Draco's hand in his again. He pressed a kiss on the back of his hand.

"Wake up, Draco. We need to talk," Harry murmured. He studied Draco's face carefully. There was no sign of him waking up yet. Perhaps that was better. He didn't want Draco to have to think about what happened. And if he did, Harry would be there for him every step of the way. He would make sure Draco knew he was safe and that they couldn't hurt him again. He didn't know yet what would happen at the end of the year but Draco was not going back to Malfoy Mansion, over his dead body. No chance in hell. Draco could come with him. The Dursleys could say what they wanted about it.

He nodded to himself. Good plan. He was so lost in thought about what he would say to the Dursleys and the possible scenarios that he didn't notice the flutter of Draco's eyelids. It wasn't until he heard Draco groan in pain that he realized the boy was waking up.

He stood up, not releasing Draco's hand. Draco slowly opened his eyes. An expression of pain was clear on his face.

"Where am I? What happened?" he asked confused.

"You're in the hospital wing. You're safe." Harry said, smiling.

Draco seemed to relax a bit. "What… what happened? Last I remember is wanting to die."

Harry winced. He sat down on the side of the bed and started telling about what had happened. He paused briefly when Madame Pomfrey came in to check Draco's wounds. He tried to keep it as short as possible because he didn't think Draco was up for any long stories now.

"Thanks. But that was foolish, Harry! You could've gotten killed!" Draco exclaimed, voice rising slightly.

"I wasn't about to let you die, Draco," Harry spoke softly, "I would never be able to live with myself if he had killed you."

Draco shook his head. "I wish I had died. I can't hide from my father or other Death Eaters forever, neither can you."

"Dumbledore said they'd leave us alone."

Draco laughed humourlessly. "You know they're not just going to let you get away with this. They'll want revenge. They'll want me back."

Harry hated seeing the fear in Draco's icy blue eyes, he hated seeing the pain in those depths.

"I'll protect you, I'll do what I have to, to keep you safe."

"What if that isn't enough? What if they get their hands on me again? I can't go through all of it again! I won't!" Memories seemed to hit Draco all at once and tears started to form. Harry moved closer and wrapped his arms around the other boy. Draco started crying and he clung to him, hands holding on tightly to the back of his shirt. Harry had never hated a sound more than he hated the sound of his love sobbing. The sound seemed to come straight from his heart. He never wanted to hear Draco cry like this again.

He didn't dare to rub Draco's back but he kept up a stream of soothing words. He had no idea how long he sat like that with Draco crying in his arms but eventually the sobs quieted down. He didn't let go and kept whispering words of comfort. Draco was the first to pull away. His eyes were puffy and swollen, tear tracks were clear on his slightly red cheeks. Harry tenderly wiped the remaining tears away and smiled a bit.

"I'm sorry," Draco said miserably.

"Don't be, you need to get it out. I'm here for you."

Draco looked down at his folded hands.

"I really thought I was going to die. For a while, I was so angry with myself for letting myself believe in our love but eventually, I realized it was the best thing that happened to me." Draco spoke calmly, tried to keep his voice devoid of emotion but there was a slight cracking that Harry easily picked up.

"I was really scared.. I love you more than anything, Draco. I promised myself that I would give us another chance if you still want to."

Draco's eyes lit up and Harry was glad to see the joy in his eyes. A genuine smile broke out across his face.

"Of course I still want to." He answered. He made some room for Harry in the bed. Harry got the idea, toed of his shoes and sat back against the headboard with his legs under the covers. He placed an arm around Draco's shoulder and let the other boy lean against him.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" Harry asked, breaking the silence that had settled between them. Draco tensed up.

"At this moment, I don't think I can talk about it without breaking down completely. I just want to forget what happened and focus on the future."

"Take it from someone who's undergone his fair share of pain, it's better to talk about it now than bottle it up."

"I think I'll just repress it."

Harry let it go. He didn't want to pressure Draco into talking about what happened but he had the feeling it wouldn't be long before he did anyway. Repressing stuff like that usually didn't work out so great. Harry would be ready for when the next break down came. He'd be there to pick up the pieces.

"You should probably try to get some more sleep." Harry suggested.

"Will you stay with me?" Draco asked. His voice sounded small again. He felt Draco's need for him to be around and face his demons with him.

"Of course."

They got more comfortable in the bed. Harry was lying on his back. Draco was curled up on his side with his head on his chest and one arm over his body. Harry ran his fingers through Draco's hair. He heard his breathing even out pretty quickly. Harry tried to force himself to stay awake but he found that he couldn't. His eyes drifted shut and sleep took over.

He awoke abruptly to a loud scream that echoed in the empty hospital wing. Draco was sitting up and shaking like a leaf. Harry wrapped his arms around the shivering boy and just held him close.

"T-they b-beat me up s-several times," Draco started. Words tumbled out of his mouth as he started telling about what had happened. He couldn't seem to stop. Harry just listened, holding Draco close and rocking him in his arms. With every word said, he felt his hate for the Death Eaters grow. He wished he had managed to kill some, just for the sake of killing them. He wished he'd been able to hurt them as badly as they had hurt Draco.

Eventually, Draco was done talking and all that was left were more tears.

"It's okay, you're safe. They can't hurt you anymore." Harry kept repeating the words as a mantra. He pressed a kiss on Draco's forehead and kept rocking him until he noticed Draco had fallen asleep again. This time, Harry just couldn't sleep anymore. The things that Draco had just said kept echoing into his mind and much to his annoyance, he could form pictures of what had happened. It just made him want to throw up. It was beyond him how people could torture other people.

When the first rays of sunlight fell through the window, Draco stirred in his arms and stretched out. He looked up and smiled.

"Thanks for staying. You were right, I did need to talk about it."

"See? Sometimes I do know what I'm talking about."

This earned him a chuckle and he smiled but the smile faltered soon. "There will be more nightmares."

Draco nodded. "I know, it's going to take me a while to get over this."

"You'll have me to help and you'll have your friends. Some emotional scars may never heal but it will get better." Harry promised.

"I still can't believe my father did that to me. I mean, I know he's strict and all but I'm his own son. How could he torture me like that?" Draco sounded absolutely heartbroken. Harry wanted to make it better but there was little he could do.

"I don't know, Draco." Harry pressed a kiss on Draco's forehead, "I don't know."

The door to the hospital wing opened and they could hear Hermione and Ron arguing with Blaise.

Harry was about to get out of bed but Draco tightened his hold on him.

"They might as well get used to it. It's not as if we really have to hide it anymore." Draco said with a sad little smile.

Their friends opened the curtain.

"Ah, so that's why we couldn't find you this morning," Hermione said, smiling easily at the couple. Pansy's smile was easy too. The boys seemed to have a little problem coping with the situation but they would have to get used to it.

"How are you feeling?" Blaise asked.

"Alive, thanks to you guys. Really, I owe you a lot." Draco spoke gratefully.

"It was our pleasure. Trust me." Pansy replied. Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise nodded their agreement.

"When are you allowed to get out of here?" Crabbe asked.

"Tomorrow morning. Wish it was today though because it's really boring and the walls are totally ignoring me." Draco pouted slightly which made everyone laugh.

Harry was relieved Draco could still crack jokes. He realized Draco was far from recovered but at least, he seemed to be willing to try to get over it and act normal. However, that could seriously backfire so Harry had to make sure he was there in time to make sure Draco didn't crack completely.

"Hate to break this up but we've got lessons." Hermione said.

Harry wasn't exactly pleased with the idea of leaving Draco alone. His boyfriend seemed to noticed because he smiled reassuringly.

"I'll be fine."

Harry leaned in for a quick kiss. When he broke free, the others were all looking anywhere but at them.

Harry got out of the bed, much to his regret. "Get over it, guys!"

They said their goodbyes to Draco and left the room.

Harry's eyes were wide, the expression in his eyes haunted. He had just seen Cedric get killed, he had seen Voldemort rise once more. The thought of Cedric's death worried him more though. The other boy died because of him. How many others would die in this battle against the ultimate evil? He didn't even want to think about it. He couldn't.

He rested his chin on his knees and stared out over the quiet Hogwarts grounds. He shouldn't be out here, it was already dark but he did not want to be in the castle where everyone looked at him with either pity in their eyes or a look that clearly said he was crazy. He didn't want to face anyone right now, least of all his friends.

He could hear footsteps approach. He didn't even bother to look up. Three figures appeared in his line of vision. He didn't have to look up to know that it was Draco, Hermione and Ron. Draco sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, Hermione sat on his other side and Ron in front of him. They didn't speak, they just sat there with him, offering comfort. He couldn't control the tear and soon they were flowing freely over his cheeks. Draco started rubbing his arm, offering him the comfort he had offered Draco a couple of months ago up to that very moment.

Harry felt slightly guilty for breaking down like this because Draco had not yet fully recovered. His sleep was still filled with nightmares, he still woke up screaming and crying. He should be worried for Draco and not wallow in self pity but there was nothing he could do to stop the tears. Shock had worn off and he was now even more than before fully aware of the awful truth. He realized his battle against evil had just started. The next years would be crucial, the next years he would have to look over his shoulder with every step he took.

"It's going to be alright, Harry." Hermione whispered. "We're here for you, we'll help you."

"I don't want you to. This is my fight. I don't want anyone else getting hurt because of me." His voice sounded so small.

"Mate, we've gone over this. We're in this together and we have been since the day we met." Ron spoke confidently.

"You were there for me, now let me do the same for you." Draco said and pressed a kiss against his temple. "You've got a lot of people willing to fight with you, Harry. A lot of people who want to fight with you. Let them all help. Let us help. This isn't something you can do on your own."

"He already killed Cedric, I don't want more people getting killed!"

Hermione smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, Harry, more people will get killed, it's the sad truth. Not every person's death is your fault or responsibility."

"I feel like it is though!" Harry exclaimed and furiously rubbed his scar, "He put a curse on me even worse than the Death curse when he put this on me. I'm forced to watch people I care about die because he feels the need to kill me in order to get world domination."

"We're going to stop him but it will take certain sacrifices. This is war, Harry. No one is going to get out unharmed or unscarred. We'll all have suffered losses at the end, some more than others. You're going to be seeing a lot of death but you will have to deal with it eventually." Draco said. He sounded way older than his age all of a sudden. His tone was matter-of-factly.

"I don't want to deal with it." Harry stated. He sounded rather childish. Now that Voldemort was back, he would more than ever be looked at as the saviour, the Golden Boy. They would all count on him. The weight on his shoulders seemed to became more.

"We'll see what happens. Don't try to think about what's still to come." Hermione spoke wisely. They were dealing with this better than he was but they were not the ones who'd seen the life disappear out of Cedric's eyes. They'd not been faced with too much Death Eaters and Voldemort. They had not fought him. They didn't know, they wouldn't. Anger bubbled up inside of him. Anger at the entire universe for screwing his life up like this.

He let out a scream that even made the hair on his arms stand up. It felt good to let it all out. It helped, at least a bit. When he'd finished, his friends and boyfriend were staring at him with worry.

"You don't know what it was like at that cemetery, you never will so don't go telling me what to do." Harry spoke calmly.

"Perhaps we don't but we're still here for you. We want to help you but we can't if you don't let us. You've got to accept we're in this together. The sooner you do that, the less fights we'll have," Ron said a little jokingly.

It didn't make Harry smile all that much

"We can better go back inside. We have to get up early tomorrow to go home." Hermione spoke.

Harry nodded his head. This conversation would continue to go in circles anyway. Draco helped him to his feet and wrapped his arm around his waist. Harry leaned into the warmth of his boyfriend's side. The four friends headed inside in silence.

The next morning, the Hogwarts express left the station. Harry sat staring out the window at the nearly black cloud that had formed above the express. A loud rumble broke the silence and rain fell hard against the window. It had just started and there was much more to come.

**The End

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_Author's note: well, that's that. If I feel like it, I could still pick up this story and do a couple of follow up chapters or just a one-shot. Who knows? But no promises! I'm sorry if this is kind of rushed, I tried to make it as coherent as possible. Thanks again for reading!_

_Love, Kelly_


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